After signing kicker Ramiz Ahmed last Friday, the Bears intend for him to challenge incumbent Eddy Pineiro, general manager Ryan Pace said Tuesday. The impending position battle comes after Chicago held an exhaustive search for a kicker in 2019 that even included an eight-man battle during rookie minicamp last May.
"We see those guys competing," Pace said on a teleconference. "Look, we love Eddy and we think his future is very bright. So, we think competition is good for everyone. Don’t expect the number of kickers we had in here last year, but I think those two completing against each other is a really good thing."
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After winning the Bears' kicking competition in 2019, the 24-year-old Pineiro converted 23 of 28 field-goal attempts and 27 of 29 extra-point attempts. His body of work didn't come without some adversity, as the Bears lost faith in Pineiro for a time midseason after he missed a game-winning 41-yard field-goal attempt in a 17-16 loss to the Chargers on Oct. 27. Pineiro didn't attempt a field goal in the next two games, then missed both of his attempts and watched as coach Matt Nagy bypassed a field goal try to go for it on fourth down on another occasion in the Bears' loss to the Rams on Nov. 17.
Pineiro rebounded by hitting his final 11 field-goals attempts to finish the season.