Windy City Gridiron
Chicago Bears’ kicker Cairo Santos was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 16. In the Chicago Bears’ win over the Green Bay Packers, Santos went 3-3 on field goals and made his lone extra point attempt in heavy wind gust conditions. Here’s a highlight of one of those field goals, from 46 yards out.
All three field goals made in that contest were critical for the Bears to remain in the game, as he scored a field goal to cut the deficit to three early in the third quarter, a field goal to cut the deficit to 7 early in the fourth quarter, and a field goal to cut the deficit to 7 with 2 minutes left in the game. All three field goals were 43+ yards long. He received a game ball in the locker room after the win.
Santos also kicked the onside attempt, which the Bears recovered. It took a nasty bounce off Packers’ receiver Romeo Doubs, and Josh Blackwell recovered it at the bottom of the pile.
Santos is known for being reliable for field goals less than 50 yards, but not necessarily having the leg to boot 60+ yarders the way other kickers in the league are able to these days. His career-long in the regular season is 55 yards. Kicking in Soldier Field is notoriously difficult, and Santos seems to have mastered it, with a nearly 89% field goal percentage since he joined the team in 2020. He also had a brief stint with the team in 2017.
The 34-year-old Brazilian native Santos is signed through 2027. Earlier this year, he surpassed Bob Thomas for fourth all-time on the Bears point leaders. Top of that list is Robbie Gould, Kevin Butler, and Walter Payton. Good company!
