Chicago Bears: Eddy Pineiro won kicker battle but hasn’t won war yet
After the Chicago Bears released Eliott Fry, it left Eddy Pineiro as the last man standing in the kicker’s spot. Even so, he still isn’t a lock to make the team.
Well, the epic kicking battle finished surprisingly quickly. The Chicago Bears cut Elliott Fry over the weekend, leaving Eddy Pineiro as the last man standing in the team’s epic kicking battle. It started with over 10 kickers they spoke to, then down to eight who attended minicamp, and finally down to Fry and Pineiro.
Now it’s Pineiro — or is it?
The Bears didn’t actually announce that Pineiro won a spot on the roster. They only announced that they waived Fry. Pineiro won this battle with Fry but he still hasn’t won the war. The Bears could still be looking for alternatives. I mean, he called the kicking competition “exhausting” so how much confidence do the Bears really have in him?
Here is what head coach Matt Nagy said about the kicking situation, per the Chicago Sun-Times:
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"You’re getting toward the end of the training camps where there’s going to be transactions for a lot of different teams at a lot of different positions. So if we feel like something is best for the Bears, that’s what we’ll do."
So why did the Bears choose Pineiro over Fry? I think the two basically are similar kickers. While Fry was considered the more accurate kicker, Pineiro’s success rate in training camp was better than Fry’s and they both missed a field goal in their preseason games.
The difference ultimately had to be the players’ leg strength. Pineiro has a more powerful leg than Fry. That comes in handy during the cold, windy games in late November and in December, when you have to kick through the heavy wind and/or snow. The fact that Pineiro has the leg strength to kick in Chicago bodes well for him.
As I mentioned, the Bears still reserve the right to cut Pineiro as well. There are some proven veteran kickers looking for a job and there are some kickers on other teams who will be available once cut day comes.
The Bears likely have their sights set on Carolina, where the Panthers have incumbent Graham Gano and Joey Slye, who made all five of his field goal attempts in the preseason, four of them from 40+ yards, and two of them from beyond 50. There is also Tristan Vizcaino, who hit a 47-yard attempt and one from 57 yards. These are just some of the areas the Bears could go to replace Pineiro.
Pineiro may be the only kicker left but that still puts a lot of pressure on him. This week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts is basically the dress rehearsal for the preseason. Even though all the key starters probably won’t play in the game, Pineiro is it so he’ll play.
The Bears backup offensive players likely won’t score many touchdowns so Pineiro will get more than a few opportunities to shine. If he doesn’t, the team could sour on him and accelerate the plan to replace him.
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Pineiro understands the situation. He knows that while he won this battle, things aren’t settled. The Chicago Bears could compete for a Super Bowl. They don’t want their season to go down in flames on a kick like it did last season. They’ll do whatever they can to avoid that.