Matt Nagy and the Bears have two main goals in the preseason: Don’t get anybody hurt. And don’t show anybody anything.
No wonder preseason games are becoming a necessary evil in the NFL. They seem to serves one purpose — to give NFL teams two more games they can tack on to their season-ticket package. Nagy tried to sell the idea that they can evaluate the bottom of their roster. But not too hard.
“For us to be able to evaluate second- and third-team players vs. some ones and twos, that’s pretty good,” Nagy said. “That’s a credit to Ryan [Pace] and our personnel guys for bringing good players in so we can create depth and competition.”
After Nagy barely played his starters in the preseason last year and went 12-4 with few major injuries, it’s hard to argue with his tack. Then again, with his offense getting stymied more often than not in training camp against a Bears defense that appears ready to hit the ground running, Mitch Trubisky & Co. could probably use a game against another defense to see what they’ve got.
Nagy agreed with that notion, but quickly indicated it won’t happen Thursday when the Bears face the Carolina Panthers in their preseason opener at 7 p.m. at Soldier Field (Fox-32).
“When we get to the preseason, defenses don’t show anything,” Nagy said. “Offense don’t usually [show anything] either. So it’s just a matter of seeing who can play and who can make plays.”
Not sure what that last part means, but it sounds like Nagy’s way of saying the Bears aren’t going to show anything of substance in the preseason.
Nothing to see here people. Until a place-kicker steps onto the field — that’s when preseason stuff gets real this year. Fans at Soldier Field will be buried in their cell phones for most of the game, but are sure to perk up — and look up — when Eddy Piñeiro or Elliott Fry step onto the field to attempt a field goal.
Nothing will be real Thursday night except the kickers. A Tyler Bray touchdown pass against a third-team defense means little or nothing. A Matt Betts sack against a third-string quarterback won’t register in the big picture. But for the Bears, a field goal attempt will be as real as anything gets in the preseason. When Fry or Piñeiro steps onto the field for a field goal, it will be the biggest moment of the night. The place will probably go from Augusta Silence to high volume in a hurry.
And it will be interesting to see just how far Nagy goes to manipulate situations to get Piñeiro and Fry opportunities to kick under some semblance of pressure. In last year’s preseason opener at the Hall of Fame game, Cody Parkey had one attempt, a 22-yarder that was good. It’s unlikely Nagy will settle for that in this game.
At this point of the process, I am 75 percent certain the Piñeiro-Fry winner will be kicking on Sept. 5 against the Packers. The Bears are determined to find their Justin Tucker — an undrafted kicker with a cost-efficient salary-cap hit who becomes a long-term solution. And both kickers have responded to the unorthodox process and awkward dynamic with solid, arguably impressive, training camp performances. Both have kicked at least one 60-yard field goal in practice, including Fry, who doesn’t have Piñeiro’s leg. So the Bears know each kicker has it in him.
But it’s almost uncanny how the process seems destined to be excruciating rather than painless. Just when Piñeiro appeared to establish himself as the leader by going 12-for-12 at Soldier Field at Family Fest, he stepped right back with a shaky performance in practice Monday. And not only did Piñeiro miss three kicks out of nine, but Fry didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. He missed two kicks, one of them badly.
Just a bad day? We’ll see about that. The preseason games will determine the winner, if there is one. And even then the Bears still won’t know for sure. Last year, Cody Parkey made 8-of-11 field goal attempts in the preseason, with two of the misses from 52 yards. The only miss from inside of 50 was his final kick of the preseason — a 39-yarder at the first-half horn against the Bills. It hit the right upright, which didn’t seem like a harbinger of things to come.
But it was.
