Bears give vote of confidence to Jake Moody ahead of second big test

The weather forecast for Sunday's Bears game with the Saints calls for a good chance of rain.

Jake Moody should feel well tested, then, for his first experience kicking on the lakefront after his game-winning kick in Monday's victory over the Washington Commanders amid a nor'aster.

Moody's Bears kicking experience will continue because they deemed Cairo Santos out for this week due to his injured right thigh. The only other Bears player ruled out was strongside linebacker Noah Sewell, who is in the concussion protocol.

There was a positive twist on the injury report as defensive tackle Grady Jarrett returned on a limited basis after missing two games with a knee injury. He is questionable.

Wide receiver DJ Moore has been cleared to play and removed from the injury report after a groin injury and hospital stay Monday night. Meanwhile, running back D'Andre Swift went through his second straight limited practice due to a groin injury and is also questionable.

Coach Ben Johnson had his own injury classification for Swift.

"I'm hopeful," he said.

The only other questionable players are on injured reserve, looking to get back onto the active roster. It's defensive end Austin Booker, running back Travis Homer and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga. All of them are listed questionable and are over their injuries after going through full practices this week.

In Booker's case, the Santos injury didn't hurt the Bears Monday night, although he did have one low boot blocked.

"Yeah, we're doing everything that we can think of to get Jake ready so, I think coach Hightower does a great job of making sure we turn over every stone to make sure we're exhausting every avenue so that all of our players are ready," Johnson said. "For example, (the Saints) have a left-footed punter. We had a guy come in to kick (left-footed) to our returners yesterday. So, things of that nature. I'm pretty confident that Jake will be as prepared as he possibly can be."

Moody was 4-for-4 from 38-48 yards in the game but didn't have to kick one 50 or longer. It's here where Santos has been a big help for the Bears over the last two years as he's greatly improved his leg strength and has 23 field goals 50 yards or longer, tied for most in Bears history with Robbie Gould.

#Bears Friday Injury Report. pic.twitter.com/fFzz1VmfDF
— Bears Communications (@BearsPR) October 17, 2025

It took Gould 11 seasons to get 23 while Santos is in his sixth full season.

If Jarrett can't go again it could mean more playing time for defensive tackle/end Shemar Turner and tackle Chris Williams. They both had roles in stopping the running game of the Commanders, who led the NFL at the time.

As for running back, if Swift is either held out or limited in number of carries then it would appear they'd lean heavily on Kyle Monangai. The actually got Roschon Johnson his first carry of the season Monday night, too, but Ben Johnson doesn't appear to want to play the veteran backup much.

Cairo Santos has been sadly ruled out, but The #Bears are in good hands as they will have Jake Moody kicking this Sunday vs. The Saints

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— Just Another Year Chicago: Bears (@JAYChi_Bears) October 17, 2025

"We certainly value what he's bringing to us in a special teams capacity right now," Johnson said of Roschon Johnson. "And yeah, it's, it's one of those things where I would love to get him more carries, but that also takes the ball away from other guys, also.

"I would love to get him more, but it's a little bit hard right now with all the mouths we have to feed."

The bottom line is Swift seems to be trending up and they won't need someone to take carries from Monangai or Swift.

They're hopeful.