Bear Digest

Grading Special 2025 Performances From Bears in the Kicking Game

Chicago Bears Final Report Card: Cairo Santos, Devin Duvernay and Josh Blackwell were only a few of the many who came up big as special teams made an impact.
Gene Chamberlain|
Cairo Santos beats the Vikings with a field goal following a long Devin Duvernay return in a 19-17 Chicago Bears victory.
Cairo Santos beats the Vikings with a field goal following a long Devin Duvernay return in a 19-17 Chicago Bears victory. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Not every masterpiece is flawless.

Bears special teams had a few mistakes in 2025, especially in the win at Cincinnati. They allowed both an onside kick recovery and game-opening touchdown on a kick return. Then there was the kickoff snafu in the opener when Cairo Santos failed to kick off out of the end zone to help preserve time against the Vikings for one last drive.

Besides those, special teams largely painted a masterpiece of a season with big field goals in the wind, cold and rain, a huge Devin Duvernay kick return to help beat the Vikings, and his punt return to help make the regular-season win possible over the Packers at Soldier Field.

Then there was Josh Blackwell and his blocked field goal to beat the Raiders, and  onside kick recovery to make the Week 16 miracle win over the Packers possible.

Here are the grades for Bears special teams, groups who played their part in the complementary football necessary for a cardiac season, just like the offense and ball-hawking defense.

Kicking game: A-

Punter Tory Taylor upped his Bears punting average record from 47.7 to 47.8 yards a game in 2025, 13th best average in the league. His punts inside the 20 dropped sharply, largely because he had to punt a lot less with an offense far more effective and head coach who liked going for it on fourth down. He made 22 fewer punts.

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Santos has enjoyed better kicking percentages than his 83.3% on field goals, and even missed for the first time in Chicago from the 40 and in, but he made every extra point and that had been a weakness in the past.

He made every big kick he had and many in horrendous kicking conditions. The 51-yarder against the Packers in the playoffs comes to mind.

"He kicked the only 50-plus yard field goal in Bears playoff history," Hightower said.

"That's something to be proud of."

Santos also got involved in stopping Josh Jacobs on a long punt return in the middle of the field when the Bears forced a fumble in the playoff win.

"It's a big up to Cairo because I’ve seen defensive players that don't want to tackle Josh Jacobs and Cairo stood in there like a man," Hightower said.

A special commendation also was in order for former Bears kicker Jake Moody, who made 8 of 9 while Santos was injured, with a game-winner against is current team, the Commanders, in poor weather.

Returns: B+

Devin Duvernay did exactly what the Bears brought him in to do, averaging 11.0 on punt returns with a 40-yard long and 26.7 on kickoffs. The kick return average of 26.7 was his best since his rookie year of 2020 and better than the two years he made the Pro Bowl for Baltimore. The Bears averaged the 33 to start drives this season. As a team they were 12th in kick return average, 13th in punt returns. He not only had the 56-yard kick return to help beat the Vikings but his 40-yard punt returner aided greatly in beating the Packers.

Coverage/kick block: B

Both kick and punt coverage teams suffered from using too many rookies early on until past midseason because of injuries to veterans, but as they became healthier they rose up in the standings from near the bottom to near the middle of the pack at both areas.

The blocked field goal and onside kick recovery looked like it might get Blackwell consideration for Pro Bowl but he came up short.

“I was surprised by that," Hightower said. "But hey, you know what? We all know that he's a good player. I think the city of Chicago appreciates Josh Blackwell. I know we do in our locker room, and it's only going to fuel his fire to make more plays. I was shocked in that though.”

Daniel Hardy got in on a team-high 19 special teams tackles to lead the way. Elijah Hicks was a player who elevated his game on coverage teams.

"He continuously puts good stuff on tape," Hightower said of the free agent, who forced a fumble on a Packers kick return. "He's been one of our players of the game multiple times this year."

Overall: B+

Back-to-back games ended with one-point wins because of special teams plays and another ended with a 19-17 win at Minnesota because of two special teams plays. That's a successful special teams season by any measure.

Next: The offense

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.