Chicago Bears: The top 10 most important players of 2021

Most important Chicago Bears of 2021: Cairo Santos

Kicking off the list, we go with one of the least talked about positions in football, unless that player is the deciding factor in a win or loss. Kickers don’t get a whole lot of notoriety, but Bears fans will quickly remember just how bad it was for a few years.

From Robbie Gould’s last season in Chicago, where he missed a few crucial kicks, all the way up through 2019, it’s been a questionable position at best. Finally last year, Cairo Santos took the job from Eddie Pineiro and ran with it.

Santos was excellent in 2020, finally returning to form after not playing a couple of full seasons due to nagging injuries. Santos made 30 of 32 field goal attempts last season and only missed one extra point.

He was as consistent as it gets.

Santos will be an important player for the Bears this season, especially because we are not sure just how well the offense will play. Whether it be Andy Dalton, or rookie Justin Fields, the offense may have some growing pains as they learn together.

There will be drives that halt before touchdowns, even though it looked as though the Bears will go down and score. It happens — especially in Chicago. Santos will be counted upon in similar situations to help aid a quarterback situation that will be constantly evolving.