Pineiro Misses a Win for the Bears, LA Chargers Beat Chicago, 17-16

The Chicago Bears suffered an unpleasant surprise at their Soldier Field, losing against the LA Chargers after a dramatic finish. With the time running out, Eddy Pineiro’s 41-yard field goal attempt finished beside the target, and the guests recorded a close win, 17-16.

Bears’ kicker will remember this event for a long time, as he missed another field goal, earlier during the game. It was a 33-yard attempt on Chicago’s second possession of the game, and the football hit the right upright after Pineiro’s kick.

Mitch Trubisky set up a perfect position for his kicker, in less than a minute and a half. He started the attack at Chicago’s 35 yards and had seven plays before settling at the 22-yard line in Chargers’ territory. However, the Bears lost for the third straight time.

“I hit the ball as best I could and tried to play the wind a little bit. I just didn’t make it,” he said.

Pineiro did make his other three field-goal attempts from 22, 25, and 19 yards.

“He’s going to be the first one to tell you that he wants to come back out here and he wants another opportunity at that shot, at that kick,” Bears head coach Matt Nagy said. “So that’s all we can do is next time he gets that chance, he puts it right down the middle.”

After a dull opening quarter, he brought a 6-0 lead to the hosts, before Melvin Gordon scored a touchdown with a 19-yard rush 2:12 left in the second. Pineiro would then hit his third kick as the time ran out, giving a small advantage for Chicago at the break.

That grew bigger as fantastic David Montgomery rushed for four yards, carrying the football into the endzone with 6:52 in the third, for 16-7.

Yet, the Chargers responded, and they did it very well. Some 39 seconds before the end of that sequence, Chase McLaughlin had a 20-yard field goal, which brought the Bears inside the touchdown range. It didn’t take too long for that to happen, as Philip Rivers tossed an 11-yard long pass to Austin Ekeler, who put the guests ahead with a little bit more than 8 minutes to go.

The Bears spent 6 minutes on the next drive only to punt the ball. The hosts had two penalties on that possession, and their quarterback suffered one sack. Matt Nagy’s guys got the ball after just 31 seconds and had the chance to throw the last punch, but nothing really happened.

Overall, the home team didn’t play well in this game. If it weren’t for rookie RB David Montgomery who rushed for 135 yards and a TD, Chicago probably wouldn’t even be in a position to have an opportunity to win this contest. Trubisky had 253 yards, 23 of 35 for one interception, and without a single TD. He also suffered four sacks for 27 negative yards and had a fumble. Anthony Miller had three receptions for 67 yards, Allen Robinson 62 in five catches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T31eRSoxouw

On the other side, Rivers had a pick and a touchdown pass, completing 19 of his 29 passing attempts for 201 yards. Melvin Gordon was restrained today, having just 31 yards on the ground in 8 carries.

Mike Williams had 3 catches for 69 yards, Keenan Allen seven for 53. Joey Bosa sacked Trubisky twice.

For the Chargers, this is a win worth gold, as they now have 3 wins and 5 losses. Before this match, the guys from LA suffered a defeat on three straight occasions.

“We just needed a win, any way — 35-0, 2-0, 3-2 or 17-16,” Rivers said. “It’s just good to win.”

On the other side, for the Bears, this was the third consecutive failure, and they have a negative record at the moment, 3-4. Chicago needs to win the next two events, against the Eagles in Philly and at home vs. Lions, all that to stay in the race for the playoffs.

Chargers play against the Packers next week at home, and after that, have a divisional derby with the Raiders on the road.