Detroit Lions special teams stacks up well against rest of NFC North

Chicago Bears

Key returning players: Pat O’Donnell, Patrick Scales

New additions: Eddy Pineiro

Key losses: Cody Parkey

Few images were as memorable or as gut-wrenching last season as the look on Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy’s face after kicker Cody Parkey’s blocked field goal in their playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in January. It would have put them ahead late in the fourth quarter, instead it became an overarching theme of their offseason.

With just five selections in April’s draft, the Bears did not have the luxury of using one of them on a kicker. After several tryouts with some nondescript kickers, they settled on trading a future seventh round pick to the Oakland Raiders for Eddy Pineiro, who has yet to attempt a regular season kick in the NFL.

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While his range at the next level remains undetermined, Pineiro was very accurate in two seasons at Florida, missing just five field goals in 43 attempts. The Bears are hoping that he can navigate the swirling winds of Soldier Field and help them erase the painful memories of last season’s demise.

Snapping and holding for him will be Patrick Scales and Pat O’Donnell, respectively, in their fourth season as a tandem in Chicago. Despite some minor hiccups last season, there is essentially no competition for these two on tap at Bears camp.

The Bears had many strengths last season, but their punt return game may have been one of the biggest. Do-it-all tailback Tarik Cohen exploded as a returner, along with his myriad offensive skills, leading the NFL with 411 punt return yards. With new additions to their offensive backfield, the Bears could look to reduce Cohen’s offensive responsibilities slightly in order to maximize his productivity on returns.

Chicago has excellent insurance for Cohen in free agent receiver Cordarelle Patterson, and he could also take hold of kickoff returns, one area where the Bears struggled last year. The journeyman has never really developed offensively in his six seasons, but he found a niche playing a variety of roles for the reigning Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots in 2018.  He could team with Cohen to give the Bears the most explosive return tandem in the NFL.

The Bears won’t sneak up on anybody this year after winning the division in surprising fashion last season. As detailed throughout this series, it’s a team with few weaknesses, certainly capable of representing the NFC in Super Bowl LIV. After being done in by a single kick last season, they’re hoping that Pineiro will be the answer. Better yet, they’ll hope that their entire special teams unit can help them build and protect more comfortable leads, where outcomes don’t rest on one play, or the foot of one player.

Which NFC North team do you think will field the best special teams unit in 2019? Let us know in the comments section below.

For the rest of our Detroit Lions and NFC North positional previews series, click here.