The late-game kicking woes continued for the Chicago Bears Sunday after kicker Eddy Piñero missed a 41-yard field goal that would have won the game.
Though Piñero of course should have made the kick, head coach Matt Nagy put his kicker is an awful situation by stalling the drive and settling for the long field goal instead of using the clock to gain extra yards and put his kicker in position for a shorter kick.
To add insult to injury, Nagy didn’t even give consideration to his kicker’s location to kick from, a must with extra time to spare before trotting out the special teams unit.
The Bears got to the Chargers 21-yard line, with Nagy then instructing his Mitch Trubisky and his offense to take a knee, not only losing yards, but placing the ball in the incorrect spot before using their last time out.
Piñeiro told 670 The Score that he would have preferred the offense to spot the ball in the center of the field instead of the left hash, the spot where he missed the kick from. If Piñeiro’s kick had begun from the preferred spot, the ball would have sailed through the uprights.
Oh my god. The Bears miss a 40 yard field goal as time expires to lose to the Chargers pic.twitter.com/H2Lh0p0Xhx
— MyBookie Sportsbook (@betmybookie) October 27, 2019
Despite the coaching miscue, Pinñero ultimately took blame for the miss, saying, “I’m a professional kicker, I got to adjust to it.”
Nagy was adamant postgame that he never even considered gaining more yards to put his team in a better position for the kick at risk of a fumble.
Pineiro is 12 of 15 on field goals this year and 12 of 12 on extra points. He has made both his kicks over 50 yards and is 2 for 4 on 40-to-49 yards kicks, with both misses coming Sunday.
The Bears’ 17-16 loss to the Chargers moved the Bears to a 3-4 record on the year.
