Tag: Cairo Santos

The Vikings blocked a Bears field goal from basically the same place they lost to the Packers

Matt Eberflus’ Bears coaching staff is beyond inept.

Every time you look over at the pitiful Chicago Bears, they seem to be making an avoidable mistake sowed by Matt Eberflus’ incompetent leadership. Sunday’s battle with the Minnesota Vikings was no different.

With a Bears’ offensive possession stalling just before the red zone, Eberflus elected to have Chicago kicker Cairo Santo attempt a 48-yard field goal. You may remember that the Green Bay Packers blocked a Santos 46-yard kick for the game to stun the Bears in Week 11. Naturally, you would have expected the Bears to change something about their blocking scheme to prepare for opposing teams who see this on film. (Or Eberflus doesn’t punt on fourth-and-4 from midfield. Either or.)

Nope. Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower didn’t change a thing, and the Vikings basically blocked the kick in the exact same way from almost the same place on the field:

Oh, by the way, the Bears have now had three field goals blocked in the same season, their most in a single year since 2012:

The Bears feel like a team with talent and a modicum of promise, with a coaching staff seemingly hell-bent on doing nothing to prepare them properly. Somehow, it’s late November, and Eberflus still has his job.

Vikings block Cairo Santos field goal attempt

Cairo Santos had a nother field goal blocked

The Chicago Bears haven’t figured out how to shore up their protection for Cairo Santos when the kicker attempts a field goal.

After Santos’ kick was blocked last week in a 20-19 loss to the Green Bay Packers, he went out for a kick against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

History repeated itself as the kick was blocked by the Purple.

3 fantasy football kicker value buys

A trio of final-round fantasy kickers to target.

There are few things more satisfying in the world of fantasy football than identifying a player or group to break out when your fellow owners don’t. With that in mind, it’s time to look at some possible sleepers for the upcoming season.

Bears sign kicker Cairo Santos to four-year extension

Merry Christmas to Cairo Santos, who just inked a four-year contract extension with the Bears.

The Chicago Bears have signed kicker Cairo Santos to a multi-year contract extension, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs. It’s a four-year deal worth $16 million, including $9.5 million guaranteed.

Santos is the most accurate kicker in franchise history. He also holds the franchise record for consecutive field goals made (40) from Sept. 27, 202–Nov. 8, 2021, tied for the third longest streak in NFL history.

Santos has connected on 27-of-29 field goals, including all six attempts from 50-plus yards. He was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November, where he led the NFL in field goals made, field goals attempted and points (41).

Since rejoining the Bears in 2020, Santos has made 91.2% of his field goals.

This is the fourth contract extension general manager Ryan Poles has handed out this season. The Bears also extended tight end Cole Kmet, defensive end Montez Sweat and defensive tackle Andrew Billings.

Chicago has a big decision to make this offseason in regards to cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who’s in a contract year and poised to see a huge pay day — be it from the Bears or another team in free agency.

Vikings gameday: Live updates from Vikings vs. Bears

Join us as we provide live updates throughout the game.

Monday night is finally here as the Minnesota Vikings take on the Chicago Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Join us as we discuss the game with live updates throughout each drive.

Cairo Santos has quietly settled the Bears’ kicking game

Cairo Santos has been a steadying force for the Bears’ kicking game.

There was a period after the Robbie Gould era when the Chicago Bears couldn’t seem to find a steadying presence in their kicking game. It made it particularly difficult to stomach watching Gould go on to have success with the San Francisco 49ers.

And watching Cody Parkey’s double doink. Full stop.

The revolving door that was the Bears’ kicking room following Gould’s departure featured a who’s who of names from around the league.

Connor Barth, Mike Nugent, Eddy Pineiro, and Parkey were all a woeful reminder that former general manager Ryan Pace may have jumped the gun on Gould’s release.

Again, my apologies for the painful reminder.

Also included in that list was Cairo Santos, who was a midseason signing in Nov. 2017 and was signed again in 2020.

In his second stint with the Bears, the Tulane alum has been a steadying force for a team that badly needed it. It looked like Santos’ days in Chicago might be numbered after missing his fifth extra point of the season in 2022.

But good on general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus for allowing the 31-year-old to work through his issues and correct them. Santos is a perfect 11-for-11 on field goals and 14-of-15 on extra-point attempts this season.

Coming full circle, Santos missed his first kick in a Bears uniform, a 54-yarder in a 31-3 loss to Philadelphia. Last Sunday, he nailed a 54-yard field goal to give the Bears a commanding 18-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Before the kick, the game still had an unsettling feeling of being “over” but not “over.” Much like the Week 4 loss to the Broncos.

Since returning to Chicago in 2020, Santos has quietly been one of the most consistent kickers in the league. He’s hit 91.7 percent (88-of-96) of his field goal attempts and 92.9 percent (105-of-113) of his extra-point tries.

Plain and simple: Santos has been good.

His quiet success has, in a sense, closed the door on the baffling and, quite frankly, frustrating departure of Gould.

Santos is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023 season. There’s still plenty of season left, but should he continue kicking at this rate, the Bears will have to make him a priority to re-sign in the offseason.

Bears vs. Vikings: Everything we know about Chicago’s Week 6 loss

The Chicago Bears fell 19-13 to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Here’s everything we know about their Week 6 loss.

On Sunday, the Chicago Bears fell 19-13 to the Minnesota Vikings, erasing any good vibes after their first victory of the season. For Chicago, their biggest loss of the game was the injury to their starting quarterback, Justin Fields, who suffered a right wrist/hand injury in the second half. Undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent took over in his place, nearly leading a comeback before throwing a costly interception.

The Bears are now 1-5, which gives them around a 2% chance of making the playoffs. That isn’t promising for a team that has struggled on both sides of the ball and has yet to win a divisional game under head coach Matt Eberflus.

Here’s everything we know about Chicago’s Week 6 loss.

5 Bold predictions for Bears vs. Packers

D.J. Moore snapping the 100-yard receiving drought & Tyrique Stevenson getting his first pick are just a few of our Bears bold predictions.

There’s rarely any shortage of drama, big plays, or juice when it comes to the Chicago Bears taking on the Green Bay Packers. Even over the past decade, when the historic rivalry has been one-sided, big moments and incredible plays (both good and bad) have been prevalent. But now as Green Bay turns the page to the Jordan Love era while Chicago continues developing Justin Fields, those moments will still remain and perhaps even favor the Bears for the first time in years.

The Bears and Packers are set to square off to open the 2023 NFL season on Sunday at Soldier Field, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what we’re going to see when the ball is finally kicked off. But we’re doing our best to predict the big moments and performances that will take place.

Our weekly bold predictions series returns for the start of the regular season, and we’re feeling optimistic about those moments and performances going the Bears way this weekend.

2023 Bears Fantasy Football Guide: Who to draft, who to avoid

The NFL season is about to kick off, which means fantasy football is back. We break down key Bears player’s fantasy outlook for 2023.

Excitement is at an all-time high with the Chicago Bears hosting the big, bad Green Bay Packers at home to kick off the season in just under a week.

Along with the 2023 NFL season getting underway, there’s another wildly popular football phenomenon that’s about to begin: Fantasy football. I

t’s that joyous time of year where people try to figure out who’s participating in their league, eventually agreeing on a time and date to do the annual draft only for it to be pushed right up against the start of the NFL season because people had things to do on the previous date, all culminating in a two-and-a-half-hour draft that everyone takes way too seriously or does not take seriously at all.

It’s glorious.

As objective as a fantasy player attempts to be, there’s always a little part of them that wants to take their favorite guys from their favorite team. The problem is, they pick their favorite player without thinking of the pros and cons, their floor and ceiling and whether they’re getting their guy at a good value.

I will be using the half-PPR format to evaluate each player, since the majority of leagues use it, and use the following fantasy lineup: 1 quarterback, 2 running backs,  2 receivers, 1 tight end, 1 flex (running back/receiver/tight end), 1 kicker and 1 defense/special teams.

Now that the rules are explained, let’s break things down with the 2023 Bears in fantasy football.

Bears notebook: What we learned from Day 11 of training camp

Our Brendan Sugrue took in Bears training camp practice on Tuesday. Here is what he observed at Halas Hall.

It’s officially game week for the Chicago Bears! The team is gearing up for their first preseason contest of the year on Saturday and returned to the practice field at Halas Hall following an off day.

The Bears ditched the pads for this practice, only running drills in shells, but it was still a competitive session that provided valuable information leading into the preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans. It was also the debut for new edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who sported his No. 91 jersey.

I was able to take in practice on Tuesday and here is what I observed during the nearly two hour practice.