Cairo Santos Trying to Up His Game in Second Bears Stint

If anyone can understand the plight facing Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro, it's Cairo Santos.

It wasn't long ago Santos was in exactly the same situation as Pineiro, in exactly the same city with exactly the same team.

For a kicker, a groin injury is a devastating injury and Santos has been through it all before, but Sunday he'll be taking Pineiro's place and trying to be a greater contributor than he was in his first tour of duty with the Bears in 2017.

Santos is coming off the practice squad to replace Pineiro, who went on injured reserve at least three weeks due to a groin strain. Santos went through an injury similar while with the Chiefs in 2017, suffered while kicking in the rain at training camp. Then it dogged him straight into a chance to be a kicker in Chicago that year.

"The groin got sore and then from there when I just tried to kick it kept straining the groin and they let me rest, but I think it was the third game that year it tore really bad in the middle of the game and I kept playing through it and just kept tearing worse," Santos said. "It made the situation on my groin just worse and it took longer to recover."

This is something for Bears running back David Montgomery to consider as he rushes back into the lineup after a groin injury. The injury is no less devastating for a kicker than a back.

The result for Santos was the Chiefs didn't want him around after finding kicker Harrison Butker, so Santos signed with the Bears after they cut Connor Barth.

This lasted two games and Santos went 1-for-2 on field goals before the groin injury was aggravated. The Bears put him on injured reserve. That led to Mike Nugent finishing the season, and then Cody Parkey coming for his ill-fated 2018 campaign in Chicago.

Santos went through a sports hernia surgery and it helped resolve his situation.

Afterward, Santos kicked briefly for the Rams, Bucs and Titans with limited success in 2018 and 2019. He made 18 of 27, but had a game with four misses and went 4-for-9 overall for the Titans before being cut last season. In the game with four misses, he failed from 33, 36, 50 and 53 yards.

"I think it was just a freak day, something that not even in my worst nightmares I could think of could that happen," Santos said.

Another rainy warmup triggered that day just like it did his groin injury.

"I was, I thought, killing it out there in practice, pregame warm ups, for the five weeks I was in Tennessee," Santo said. "It was a rainy warm-up, it was just kind of, things fell out of sync.

"It just kind of happens. I've always said, nobody's immune to a day like that, so you just kind of always have to stay humble after great games where you go 5-for-5 or games that you struggle, and truly know that doesn't define what the work I've put in to get to Year 6 or Year 7 or to make the team in Tennessee."

Santos has had a day went he went 7-for-7 before, and a few 5-for-5s.

He said his confidence is renewed, especially after making every single kick he tried at a training camp scrimmage held at Soldier Field.

The performance convinced the Bears and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor he can get the job done. So they carried Santos as an extra kicker and his services are necessary immediately.

"To go back to say why Cairo, it's we wanted a veteran presence in there," Tabor said. "This is a unique time. A lot of teams are carrying multiple kickers.

"To have an older guy that can also help Eddy develop and learn a routine, Cairo is a pro's pro. I know you talk about those (groin injury) things the last couple years but I think he's 100 percent healthy now and I'm watching a player make field goals. So that's why we took him at the end of the day because I think he's going to be consistent and he understands what it's like to kick here and those type of things through his first experience."

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