Bears' Belief in Cairo Santos Speaks to Core Theme About Ben Johnson's Team

When Cairo Santos' 53-yard field goal attempt with 8:02 left in the fourth quarter hit the right upright and doinked to the ground, it would have been human nature to second-guess giving the Chicago Bears' veteran kicker another opportunity in the Thursday night matchup against the New England Patriots. 

Bears head coach Ben Johnson had a decision to make after quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked on third-and-5, losing 10 yards on the play. 

Santos spoke to reporters after the game and revealed that Johnson initially wanted to punt the football with the team up six points with 1:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. His reasoning? It was a 58-yard field goal attempt. His career-long entering Thursday night's game was 55 yards, which he converted in the 12-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings in 2023. Big difference is that the Vikings play indoors at U. S Bank Stadium. 

Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore was injured on the third down sack, allowing Johnson to rethink his decision. 

The Bears' kicker stood next to special teams coordinator Richard Hightower (HT) as this all unfolded. 

"I was talking to HT that I felt good about it," Santos said. "Ben asked, 'Does he want it?' And I heard it and I told HT I want it and he said, 'Ben, Cairo says he wants it.' Thankful that Ben trusted me on that, and I delivered a great kick right down the middle."

Santos scored the last points of the game, securing the Bears a 30-24 victory to improve to 5-2 on the season. 

"That's my guy, Cairo," Williams said. "So, we believe in each other. Whenever anything happens, Cairo misses, cool. I’ve got your back, the defense has got your back. When maybe we don't score or put us in that situation, Cairo has our back. And that's the type of guy Cairo is. He said at the end that he wanted to have our back, ‘Put me out there on the field.’ And that's why coach puts trust in him. We trust him, and that's what we are, we trust each other."

Santos explained in the Bears' locker room that he's always had the belief he can kick from that distance, but there just haven't been many opportunities. Weather plays a factor, the particular end zone. 

"If it's 10 to 15 degrees cooler, I don't have that range," Santos said. 

Everything aligned and Santos executed. 

Johnson shared his thought process on giving Santos another opportunity late in the game. 

“It's close," Johnson said. "But, it's one of those things, a lot of time and effort goes into it. Our process pregame tells us a lot about how he's feeling and what we feel like those maximum distance lines are. One, we felt good about being inside that line, and two, we asked him, he said, ‘Absolutely, I need redemption because I missed one earlier.’ He came through for us in a big way.”

That theme of redemption, overcoming adversity played out throughout the night. Wide receiver Rome Odunze committed an offensive pass interference penalty in the end zone midway through the second quarter on third down, forcing the Bears to settle for the field goal. 

On the Bears' final scoring drive of the game, Odunze came up with two clutch receptions, each going for 21 yards on third-and-9 and then on second-and-12. 

"Yeah, he [Williams] just gave me a shot," Odunze said. "You know that was me coming back to life there, you know, I missed a play earlier in the game, so my mindset is just shake back and that's exactly what I did."

Adversity hits everyone, from youth sports all the way to the pros. Johnson understands the ups and downs that occur in a football game, which is why he did everything he could to prepare his players for when those adverse moments inevitably arise.

“We talk about it, but those are just words," Johnson said. "So, we try to put those guys in those situations in the spring and during training camp; things not necessarily always going our way. That's where there's always a silver lining when bad stuff happens to us. You can learn from it and you find out what you're made of. I know we've got the right guys in this locker room that can handle anything that's thrown their way. They have a lot of belief in each other, too. I think that's really a big part of it is they know that even when things get a little bit funky or haywire, that we can right the ship and get it going back the right direction really quickly.”