Cairo Santos' Kicking Recognized

Aside from some spotty punt coverage, it's been a strong year to date for Bears special teams.

Much of this is based on the performance of kicker Cairo Santos, and on Thursday he was recognized for his efforts. Santos was named November's NFC special teams player of the month.

Santos also won this same honor in December of 2020. It's the 25th time a Bears player was named player of the month.

What's surprising is Santos won for the month when he suffered both of his missed field goals on the season. He was 12 of 14 on field goals in November. He was perfect on extra points, although it's a little telling about the Bears offense that his perfect mark on extra points included only five extra-point kicks in November. In November, he led the NFL in field goals made, attempted and in points with 41.

In the last three games he has made field goals of 53, 54 and 55 yards, the 55-yarder Monday night matching his career long.

On Monday night, Santos missed his first field goal from 48 yards but bounced back to score all the bears points.

"I credit Cairo, you know, missing that first field goal and coming back," coach Matt Eberflus said. "His resolve in that."

The game-winning field goal Monday marked Santos' 100th Bears field goal and he ranks fifth in team history for total field goals, passing Mac Percival with the 100th.

Santos' season so far is 23 of 25 for field goals and 21 of 22 on extra points. He is eighth in total points with 90 and fifth in field goals made.

The last Bears player to win player of the month honors was defensive end Robert Quinn in December of 2021, when he was on the way to setting a team record for sacks at 18 1/2.

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