Matt Nagy has voiced “ultimate faith” in kicker Eddy Pineiro during this mid-season lull, but in-game decisions are more telling than any press conference.
There’s a major concern when Nagy is bypassing long field-goal attempts on fourth down, as he did in each of the last three games. And given that the Bears have such a hard time scoring, they can’t let three points slip away here and there.
There’s been nothing ordinary about the Bears’ kicking situation during Nagy’s two seasons — the first time in his life that kicker has been within his purview — and it’s very possible he’s not over the Double Doink. But if he wants normalcy, he has to start acting normally.
That means treating Pineiro like any other kicker: Ride out his struggles or replace him. If Nagy keeps going for it or punting when a field-goal try is plausible, the Bears are playing a more difficult version of football than their opponents.
The most recent litmus test came in the second quarter against the Lions on Thursday, when the Bears worked their way from first-and-32 to a fourth-and-6 at the Detroit 32-yard line.
With Pineiro warming up and ample opportunity to reconsider after calling timeout, Nagy had more faith in his offense than a 50-yard kick in an indoor stadium — certainly not a gimme, but a reasonable attempt for any pro.
Mitch Trubisky threw incomplete to Javon Wims about 1 yard past the line of scrimmage, and the Bears were flagged for an illegal formation anyway.
“I just felt like, at that point in time, staying a little aggressive,” Nagy said. “If it had been a little further out, fourth-and-7, -8, -9, in there, probably would’ve attempted a long field goal.
“We’re in that area of do you take three and settle for three, or do you show that, ‘Hey, let’s go get this thing’? We felt good with the play call, but it ended up not working.”
So had it been a yard longer, he would’ve turned to Pineiro?
Also, the Bears are hereby banned from saying “settle” when it comes to three points. They’re on quite a binge — 19-plus points in three of their last four games — but they’re still averaging 17.7 for the season.
Nagy often goes with his gut, and his gut seems like it’s telling him to be cautious with Pineiro. It has a hint of how he shifted away from Cody Parkey late last season with some two-point conversions.
After Pineiro missed wide left against the Rams, Nagy went for it on a fourth-and-9 instead of a 49-yard attempt. It was much more of a gray area last week when he punted against the Giants rather than try a 55-yarder, but with a defense this good and an offense this desperate, that’s a field-position gamble worth considering.
Pineiro, whose 75 percent accuracy on field goals ranks 20th, has played a part in rattling Nagy’s confidence. It’s likely the Bears will, at minimum, bring someone in to compete with him this offseason.
It seemed like a reset for Pineiro when he missed a 33-yarder and a game-winner from 41 against the Chargers. Nagy ignored the chance to give him an ideal angle for the final kick, then countered criticism by saying essentially pros should make those.
Pineiro missed two field goals and two extra points over the next four games. One point-after was at Soldier Field from 48 yards, which special teams coordinator Chris Tabor said was beyond Pineiro’s range for the day based on warm-ups.
Nothing about this feels normal, but that’s how it’s been at kicker for more than a year.
The more Nagy and the Bears hyper-react, like they did with the parade of offseason auditions and bizarre tryout tactics, the more instability they’re going to have. And now, with the season on the line and the weather tilting from bad to terrible, is the worst time for it.
