Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro has been trekking down to practice at Soldier Field before every home game trying to figure out the wind pattern inside the stadium.
The trouble is there isn’t one.
Pineiro practiced there Friday and felt like he had a handle on it, only to show up Sunday for the Saints game to find the wind swirling the opposite direction. This place is every kicker’s nightmare, and it’s going to get worse in the second half of the season, but Pineiro sees it as a badge of honor.
“I know that this will be the hardest place to kick, so if I can kick here, I can kick in any other stadium,” he said. “It’s a big confidence booster.”
He’s managed it well and brought peace to what has been a stressful position for the Bears. Pineiro has hit 9 of 10 field goals and made all 11 of his extra-point tries, and he’s 8 for 8 overall at Soldier Field.
The Bears aren’t even halfway through the season, and he’s already had an eventful year.
After winning a training camp battle for the job, he went into final cuts not knowing if he’d make the team. He kicked a 53-yarder game-winner against the Broncos, then suffered a pinched nerve in his knee that disrupted his preparation for weeks.
That’s a lot for a 24-year-old in his first NFL season, but he never seems rattled.
“I mean, who knows where his career ends up in the end, but that kick in Denver — It’s amazing how life works and how that can help somebody confidence-wise,” coach Matt Nagy said. “[I] just like where he’s at, and I haven’t done a whole lot... I’ve just kind of stayed away. And, maybe, hopefully that’s a good thing.”
His next test will be the deteriorating weather, and it’s especially interesting given that he was born and raised in South Florida, kicked in the SEC and spent one preseason in Oakland before the Bears traded for him.
With that background, he said Sunday against the Saints was “probably the coldest, windiest game I’ve kicked in.” It was 54 degrees with a 6-mile-per-hour breeze.
Fortunately for Pineiro, the forecast is 58 and sunny for the Chargers game.
That’s downright tropical compared to what awaits him. Can he survive Chicago’s winter?
“That’s a very valid question,” special teams coordinator Chris Tabor said. “I’m going to give you a bad answer: You don’t know until you’re there.”
