When the Bears traded for Eddy Piñeiro in May, they not solely acquired a kicker, they obtained a soccer participant.
“You know there’s going to be a little bit of pain there, but there’s nothing structurally wrong,” Bears particular groups coordinator Chris Tabor stated Thursday at Halas Hall. “There’s a lot of players out there playing through pain and that’s no different.”
The Bears are persevering with to nurse Piñeiro by way of a knee damage he suffered final week and stay hopeful he’ll be capable of kick Sunday in opposition to the Vikings at Soldier Field.
“I mean, he played last week, so …” Tabor stated, a sign that Piñeiro is on course to kick in opposition to the Vikings even when he’s not 100 %.
Bears coach Matt Nagy defers to Tabor on Piñeiro’s availability and Tabor sounded assured that Piñeiro can work by way of the knee subject with out aggravating it. Piñeiro suffered the damage within the weight room final Friday and made 1-of-2 area purpose makes an attempt and 4-of-Four PATs in a 31-15 victory over the Redskins. Piñeiro hit from 38 yards and was extensive proper from 44.
“Real proud of him,” Tabor stated. “I think that’s another step in the right process. We’ve been checking off boxes — and trust me, there’s a lot more boxes to check off, especially as the weather turns here. But that’s a good sign.”
Piñeiro was at apply Thursday however didn’t try a area purpose within the portion of apply that was open to the media. But Tabor didn’t assume it was an enormous deal that Piñeiro was not training a lot if in any respect this week. The Bears are on a brief week following the Monday night time sport in opposition to the Redskins.
“Normally … he’s going to hit a couple of times a week,” Tabor stated. “I looked at it this way: He kicked Monday. We are going to go to work [Friday] and do our deal. To me, he’s on a normal schedule.”
Punter Pat O’Donnell dealt with Piñeiro’s kickoff duties and had three touchbacks and three others returned — one for 45 yards. He was efficient sufficient to do it once more if wanted.
“I was pleased with Pat,” Tabor stated. “We need to do a better job covering for him, that’s for sure.”
The Bears are hoping that easing Piñeiro’s workload will permit the damage to heal with out price. So far, so good because the missed area purpose was a non-factor in opposition to the Redskins — the Bears had been main 28-Three within the third quarter.
“I’ve had it where a guy got hurt on a Friday and we got a new kicker and the first time I saw the snap, hold and kick was in pre-game,” Tabor stated. “To be honest, this was not a crisis to me.”
But Sunday’s sport might be a distinct story. It’s a key divisional sport — as near a must-win as you may get this early within the season after the Bears already misplaced at house to the Packers within the opener. The Vikings are a big step up from the Redskins. And it’s at Soldier Field, the place the situations can all the time be difficult. If Piñeiro can’t kick from 50-plus, that is perhaps an issue.
Piñeiro won’t kick at Soldier Field previous to Sunday’s sport — extra due to anticipated climate points Friday, Tabor stated.
At this level, simply getting Piñeiro to Sunday is the precedence. The Bears are hopeful he can intestine it out from there. That’s what soccer gamers do.