Eddy Pineiro didn’t cost the Bears a win, stupid coaching did
By Josh Hill
The Chicago Bears lost on a missed field goal, but it’s the decision leading up to it that should enrage fans.
Don’t blame Eddy Pineiro for the Bears loss on Sunday against the Chargers.
Well, you can blame him for missing the field goal that would have won the game but it wasn’t entirely his fault.
With one timeout left and about 41-yards between winning and losing the game, there were a number of things the Bears could do. In fact, let’s run through a few of them:
- Run the ball twice to get a closer field goal attempt
- Pass once and then run the ball to take the clock down
- Run once and then take a knee to center the field goal
- Pass twice and leave time on the clock for the Chargers if any were incomplete
Not on the list of things anyone expected the Bears to do was taking a knee with over a half-minute left and running the clock down without trying to advance the ball.
Guess what the Bears decided to do.
Of course, the write-in option of doing absolutely nothing ended up setting Pineiro up for failure.
https://twitter.com/ActionNetworkHQ/status/1188547811106807810
Pineiro barely missed his field goal as it hooked at the last second to sail just right of the upright. It’s absolutely worth noting that if Pineiro doesn’t miss — which is what he’s paid to not do — this isn’t even a discussion.
But if we’re dealing with hypotheticals, the following scenario needs to be tried on for size. Let’s pretend the Bears run the ball for even a few yards before that attempt, there’s a chance the ball hooks after it’s through the uprights and not before. If the Bears don’t stand pat and, in doing so show no faith in their offense, they might win the game.
That’s the thing, though. The Bears not trying to move the ball only reinforces the idea that Matt Nagy is so petrified of his quarterback screwing up that he’d rather lose than try to win. It’s not much more complicated than that — fear of Trubisky doing something wrong forced the Bears into a bad coaching decision that ultimately cost them the game.
Blame Pineiro all you want for missing the field goal, but winning on Sunday wasn’t nearly as complicated as the Bears ended up making it.