The Bears have a new kicker, his name is Cairo Santos.
Wide right doesn’t cut it.
After Connor Barth’s awful game-tying FG attempt in the waning seconds of the Chicago Bears loss Sunday to the Detroit Lions, the front office has finally decided that they had enough.
According to Brad Biggs, the Bears have a new kicker.
BREAKING: #Bears signing new kicker Cairo Santos. Details: https://t.co/PzwM73oLzU
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) November 20, 2017
According to Biggs, Santos was at Halas Hall on Monday and signed a contract to be the Bears’ kicker for the remainder of the season. Santos was in last week for a workout and took a physical, but unfortunately, the Bears waited for one more game to sign him.
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Barth has been an inadequate kicker since he signed with the Bears last season after Robbie Gould was released to make room for Josh Sitton. Barth has missed several key kicks this season, and the game-tying attempt on Sunday that wasn’t even in the right zip code was apparently the final straw.
Not every signing is a good one, unfortunately, the Bears stuck with Barth for far too long. Santos has the potential to vastly improve the Bears’ kicking game. He is one of the most accurate kickers the league has ever seen and the most accurate kicker in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs’ franchise.
Santos injured his groin earlier this season and with the emergence of rookie Harrison Butker, the Chiefs felt it best to move on from Santos who was set to be a free agent at the end of the year.
For his career, Santos is 89 for 105 on field goals, good for 84.8% accuracy. He was perfect on FG attempts this season before his injury. His career long is 53 yards.
Kicking in the winds of Soldier Field in the dead of winter is never easy, so Santos will have his work cut out for him over the final six games. However, if he performs well, the Bears will be in the pole position to sign him to a multiyear contract this offseason and have the accurate kicker they desperately need.