Eddy Pineiro thought the Bears were going for two.
After they were flagged on the play in the third quarter, the Bears lined him up to kick a 43-yard extra point — but a penalty pushed him back to 48, and he missed it left.
“I have to be more concentrated on that,” the Bears kicker said. “I didn’t know if we were going to kick it, to go for it. I just have to be more focused, I would say.”
The Bears kicker followed up a two-miss performance in Los Angeles — and a personal challenge from Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday — with two made field goals Sunday. He chipped a 26-yarder in with 8 seconds left in the first half and a 24-yarder halfway through the third quarter.
“It felt great, bouncing back a little bit from last week and gaining momentum,” he said. “That’s all I felt like I needed.”
It didn’t start well. He booted the opening kickoff out of bounds, only to watch Giants counterpart Aldrick Rosas do the same to start the second half.
“I hit it too hard,” Pineiro said. “I just have to do a regular swing, like the regular swing that I do. I hit it too hard.
“The other guy did the same thing too. I was almost like, ‘I understand what you were trying to do there.’”
As Pineiro did a week earlier, Rosas missed two first-half field goals. His first miss came after the snap practically rolled to the holder.
“I just got to make it,” Rosas said. “If the ball’s on the ground, I got to make it.”
