Kicking has been an adventure in Chicago in recent years, and although Eddy Pineiro won the job and kept it for the entire season in 2019, he’s not taking it for granted that he’ll keep the job in 2020.
The Bears signed kicker Ramiz Ahmed to compete with Pineiro in training camp, and Pineiro is ready to have to prove himself worthy of keeping the job.
“As far as them signing him, I obviously expected it,” Pineiro told Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. “Everybody has to compete. That’s just part of that.”
One advantage Pineiro has is that he’s been working this offseason with the Bears’ punter and holder, Pat O’Donnell, and turning those workouts into a competitive environment.
“Me and Pat don’t just go in and just kick some balls — we kind of have a set game plan,” Pineiro said. “’Like, ‘OK, we’re going to do this last-second field goal at the end of practice’ or ‘We’re going to manipulate the wind or hit the ball this way for it to go this way.’ Stuff like that. We work on a lot of details. . . . We’re going to kick more kicks on the left hash and kick more kicks on the right hash, just different scenarios. We try to put ourselves in the most in-game, real situations as we possibly can.”
Bears fans will hope Pineiro can remove any doubt that he’s the right kicker for the job.
