A defiant Matt Nagy said Monday that he had no regrets calling for a kneeldown with 43 seconds left Sunday, rather than running the ball to try to gain a few more yards before Eddy Pineiro’s field goal attempt.
Pineiro, of course, missed a 41-yarder at the gun as the Bears lost to the Chargers 17-16.
“I would do it again a thousand times,” Nagy said.
The Bears coach said Sunday afternoon that he did not want to risk a mistake. Monday, he added another possibility to his list of dangers: offensive holding.
He pointed to Sunday’s Colts-Broncos game. With 1:29 to play and needing a field goal to win, the Colts ran three plays from the Broncos’ 34. They allowed a sack for a loss of one yard, ran the ball for two and then again for no gain.
Adam Vinatieri, the sport’s all-time leading scorer, made a 51-yard field goal anyway.
Nagy said he still trusts Pineiro, who was kicking in only his seventh game Sunday.
“Because I know who he is as a person,” Nagy said. “And we’ve seen it in practice and we’ve already seen him nail a [53-yard] game-winner in Denver. His longest kick in Soldier Field was 46. Again, if you’re farther back ... you can try to get the odds to go up a lot and not kick a 54, 55, 52[-yarder]. You could throw the ball or try to do something different. But where we were, we felt very comfortable with where we were.”
Nagy said he wasn’t concerned it showed a lack of faith in his players.
“It’s about playing smart,” he said. “It’s a 40-yard field goal. Think about that — that doesn’t, that takes nothing away from Piñeiro. We love Eddy. We have all the faith in the world in him. We know he’s gonna bounce back. ... I’m very, very comfortable knowing that if I’m in that exact situation again, at that same yard line, I’m gonna do the same thing. You got me?”
