Second-year Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy announced on Sunday that kicker Eddy Pineiro will have the starting role when the team kicks off their 2019 regular season against the Green Bay Packers this Thursday, according to NBC Sports Chicago's JJ Stankevitz on Twitter.
The 23-year-old Pineiro won the kicker job for the Bears over former AAF kicker Elliott Fry. Chicago released Fry nearly two weeks ago, signaling that Pineiro would be the Bears' starter for the present.
Pineiro knocked in eight of his nine preseason field-goal attempts, missing a 48-yarder against the Carolina Panthers during the Bears' first preseason matchup but would impress his coaches with a made 58-yard field goal in last week's tilt against the Indianapolis Colts. He would also complete 3-of-4 extra-point attempts, too.
Pineiro was originally signed as an undrafted free agent coming out of the University of Florida by the Oakland Raiders. He was placed on the AFC West franchise's injury reserve list in September of last year, never appearing in a regular season game for the Raiders during the 2018 season. The 5-foot-11 Pineiro was then traded to the Bears for a conditional seventh-round pick earlier in the offseason.
The Bears have struggled with finding a stable kicker for their special teams.
Infamously, Cody Parkey disgraced the team with unfortunate misses, leading to his release in March of this year. Parkey, with a kick dubbed the “double doink,” is still a free agent and recently worked out for the New York Jets.
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