Two days after Eddy Pineiro made his most emphatic statement yet in pursuit of the Bears’ kicker job, coach Matt Nagy was asked if he was curious to see how he handled success.
“These guys can probably use a little bit,” Matt Nagy said after Monday’s practice. “There’s been such a microscope on them, and that’s OK.”
Pineiro made field goals of 58 and 21 yards, plus three extra points, in his first game since the team cut Elliott Fry. Nagy said his success was a “hidden story” of the day —behind, of course, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck’s retirement.
Nagy will keep the pressure on, though he said he will feel out exactly how to do it this week. Pineiro hasn’t won the kicker job yet — the Bears could look to the trade market before cuts are made Saturday or the waiver wire on Sunday — but he’s a whole lot closer than he was a week ago.
“How are you gonna handle it when you do well?” Nagy said. “But how cool was it to see the team react the way they reacted to him making that? To seeing Eddy react the way he reacted?
“He knew it was a big kick. Now he gets more opportunities this week, hopefully.”
Pineiro could have tried another deep kick, too — the Bears went for it on fourth-and-17 from the 39 rather than try a 58-yard kick. Before the game, special teams coordinator Chris Tabor gave Nagy a distance he was comfortable with from each hash mark, and this one was too long.
“I really thought about wanting to kick it,” Nagy said. “But we as coaches, we need to stay disciplined.”
