LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) – Bears kicker Cairo Santos has been a steady presence for his team since arriving in Chicago just weeks before the start of the 2020 season.
Santos still has the Bears’ vote of confidence, even as they bring in competition. The Bears signed third-year kicker Jake Moody to their practice squad last week, but Santos remains their starting kicker.
On Thursday, Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower was mum on Moody’s status with the team, an indication of his belief in Santos.
“He’s a young, developmental player that’s on our practice squad,” Hightower said of Moody. “And that’s what he brings right now – nothing more.
“Our personnel department does a great job of combing the entire league.
And anybody who thinks they have a chance to play for us at some point, whether it’s a wide receiver, a DB, a running back, there are so many different people on the practice squad. We’re going to try to develop them all, help them all get better.”
Santos missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt in the Bears’ 27-24 loss to the Vikings in their season opener. He also failed to kick the football through the back of the end zone with just more two minutes remaining in the game. That allowed Vikings returner Ty Chandler to return the football and milk the clock inside the two-minute warning, taking away a key clock stoppage that could’ve helped the Bears as they tried to make a late comeback. Bears head coach Ben Johnson was counting on Santos to kick the ball through the end zone in that instance.
On the opening kickoff of the Bears’ 52-21 loss to the Lions on Sunday, Santos booted the ball out of bounds. Detroit started at its own 40-yard line and quickly reeled off a five-play, 60-yard touchdown drive.
The 33-year-old Santos has made 135 of his 152 field-goal attempts (88.8%) over parts of seven seasons with the Bears. He also had a two-game stint with Chicago back in 2017.
A third-round pick of the 49ers in 2023, the 25-year-old Moody is 46-of-62 (74.2%) on field-goal attempts in his NFL career. He was 1-of-3 on field-goal attempts in San Francisco’s 17-13 win against Seattle in Week 1 and was then waived by the 49ers.
Moody’s strength is his distance, though he has been inconsistent at the NFL level. Santos’ career-long field goal is 55 yards. In this era of the NFL, kickers converting long field goals is becoming more and more common.
Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey connected on a 64-yard field goal at the end of to force overtime against the Giants on Sunday. The Cowboys then earned a 40-37 victory at AT&T Stadium.
“I wouldn't say 60s are normal,” Hightower said. “Like, 50s, high 50s, mid-50s are like normal. I wouldn’t say 60s are normal yet. I mean, we're getting there, but my appreciation for it is it's awesome. So, now you can do different things when it comes to your fourth-down aggression and things like that.
“Kickers are definitely getting better, just like returners are getting better, just like core players getting better. I think the kickers being better is also going to help the kickoff too, because the kickoff now is a real play. So just from that standpoint, I really like what direction the game's going right now.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.