Chicago Bears training camp: 5 Things we’ve learned so far
4. Pineiro won the kicking battle, then began another
Kicker Eddy Pineiro did everything the Chicago Bears asked of him this offseason. He worked on his craft in Miami before camp started. They wanted him to gain weight so he gained eight pounds of muscle and reduced his body fat. As a result, special teams coach Chris Tabor saw an improved Pineiro. He noted how the ball is booming off his foot now.
Last season, Pineiro survived a kicker’s battle. The Bears brought in a small village of kickers and Pineiro was the last man standing. He had his ups and downs but finished making 82 percent of his field-goal attempts and 93 percent of his extra-point attempts.
Pineiro was supposed to be in another battle this season when the Bears signed Ramiz Ahmed. That battle was short-lived, however. The Bears ended up cutting Ahmed and it seemed like Pineiro was free from battling for his job.
That thinking was short-lived as well. The Bears went out and signed Cairo Santos. Santos was with the Bears in 2017, replacing Connor Barth. He injured his groin, however, and only attempted two field goals (making one) and two extra-point attempts (making them both). He is also familiar with head coach Matt Nagy when both were with the Kansas City Chiefs.
At first, the thought was the Bears brought Cairo in just in case Pineiro wasn’t ready. The Bears announced that Pineiro had a groin injury but wouldn’t elaborate on the severity. However, when the media asked Nagy about the Bears’ kicking situation, he gave a non-answer.
ESPN reports the Bears plan to sign veteran K Cairo Santos. This comes after Matt Nagy gave a non-answer a few hours ago when asked how Eddy Pineiro is doing.
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) August 22, 2020
That non-answer gave rise to a lot of questions. Is Nagy really comfortable with Pineiro as the kicker, or would a healthy Santos be more comforting for him?
We’ll see what happens as the week progresses. If Pineiro is healthy and the Bears comfortable with him as the starter then Santos won’t be in camp that long. If he is there for a longer period of time, then either Pineiro is more hurt than the Bears let on or the team doesn’t have as much faith in him as many thought.