After the Chicago Bears lost to the Baltimore Ravens in deflating fashion in Week 8, questions that were swept under the rug during the four-game winning streak began to resurface. The slew of frustrating penalties, the underwhelming offense with quarterback Caleb Williams under center were the main talking points.
Another glaring areas that has gone under the radar is the Bears' kicker situation. Although the solution to that problem might seem simple on paper, the reality of the situation is anything but that.
Cairo Santos May Be Frustrating But Is the Safer Choice Over Jake Moody
Cairo Santos returned to action on Sunday after missing the last two games with a thigh injury. In his absence, Jake Moody had done an admirable job, making eight of his nine field goals and going 3-of-3 in extra point attempts, with his only miss being a blocked kick. This brought up questions about whether the Bears should consider a change at kicker for the second half of the season.
In his return to action, Santos didn't do himself any favors, adding fuel to the fire. At the end of the first half, Santos missed a 58-yard field goal that could have cut Baltimore's lead to one before the break. The kick was, as expected, short.
As good as Santos has been in his seven seasons in Chicago, his inability to make long-range field goals has been a consistent issue. In the modern NFL, where kickers regularly make 60-yard field goals, Santos has never made one longer than 55 yards. He has missed 17 of his 48 field goal attempts in his career farther than 50 yards. That 64.5% may seem concerning, but examining Moody's career numbers doesn't necessarily paint a rosier picture.
Distance | 40-49 FG | 50+ FG | Total FG |
|---|---|---|---|
Accuracy | 13/21 (61.9%) | 6/12 (50%) | 54/71 (76.1%) |
Moody is believed to have a stronger leg than Santos, but he hasn't necessarily converted that to accuracy in the NFL. He has made only half of his field goals from 50+ yards, and has a much lower percentage on 40-plus-yard field goals than Santos. Having the power to be able to hit from 55-plus yards can be important, especially in end-of-half and end-of-game situations, but it's not like Moody is rock solid there.
Just to show how far Moody is from being an elite long-distance kicker: Chase McLaughlin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has made 23 of his 26 FG attempts from 50+ yards in the last three seasons.
While Santos's lack of leg power can be frustrating for Bears fans, he offers so much more reliability in every other aspect of kicking. Moody's inconsistency was the reason the San Francisco 49ers moved on from him earlier this season. Replacing Santos with him, just so that you can maybe make one or two more 58-yard field goals for the rest of the season, makes little sense.