Staley Da Bear
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Kicking it: Coach Matt Nagy defended his decision to settle for a potential game-winning 41-yard field goal attempt as time expired.
After Trubisky’s 11-yard scramble had resulted in a first down at the 21, the Chargers called timeout with :43 to play. Trubisky’s kneel-down lost a yard, the Bears ran the clock down to :04 and Piñeiro followed by missing the 41-yarder wide left.
“I have zero thought of running the ball and taking the chance of fumbling the football,” Nagy said. [The Chargers] know you’re running the football, so you [could] lose three, four yards. So that wasn’t even in our process as coaches to think about that.”
A reporter asked Nagy if he considered throwing a pass in that situation.
“What happens if you take a sack or there’s a fumble?” Nagy responded. “There was zero thought of that. I’ll just be brutally clear: Zero thought of throwing the football, zero thought of running the football.”
Ultimate faith: Piñeiro missed two field-goal attempts in a game for the first time this season, but Nagy still believes in the young kicker.
“I really like where we’re at,” Nagy said. “I have ultimate faith in him. I do. It just happens to be in our situation, it just gets completely magnified because of where we’ve been before. But I have ultimate trust in him. He’s going to be the one that wants another opportunity at that shot, at that kick. So that’s all we can do is next time he gets that chance, he puts it right down the middle.”
Piñeiro entered Sunday’s game having made 9-of-10 field-goal attempts in the first six games this season, including a game-winning 53-yarder as time expired in a Week 2 victory over the Broncos in Denver. He is now 12-of-15 on field goals and has made all 12 of his extra-point attempts.
News and notes: Khalil Mack registered the Bears’ only sack on the Chargers’ final possession of the game, increasing his team-leading total to 5.5 this season … Kyle Fuller recorded his team-leading third interception of the season when he picked off Philip Rivers late in the third quarter … The Bears lost to the Chargers for the first time in five all-time meetings at Soldier Field and for the first time in Chicago since a 1970 matchup at Wrigley Field … Outside linebacker Isaiah Irving exited Sunday’s game with a quad injury … Right guard Rashaad Coward drew three penalties, two for false starts and one for holding.