Chicago Bears: 5 positives halfway through the season

Not everything for the Chicago Bears is negative this season

Despite the Chicago Bears currently sitting at 5-3, there are a lot of negatives surrounding this team. They still are in competition for the playoffs as they are just outside of the wildcard spot behind the Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. With a few tough games remaining though, they may not be able to secure the wildcard spot.

The Bears have had two disheartening losses back-to-back with them getting dominated by the Rams and then barely falling to the New Orleans Saints in overtime. With the Tennessee Titans up next, that game could be a toss-up and a major indicator of where this team will go this season.

Even though the Bears barely lost to the Saints, everything around the game was negative. The Bears have no offense, their offensive line is bad, their run defense can’t stop anyone, nobody can catch a pass, Nick Foles makes horrible decisions, and the list goes on. But even with all of those negatives, they are still 5-3 and can make a push to the playoffs.

5. The Bears finally have a kicker

Since Robbie Gould left Chicago, the Bears have never been able to find a consistent kicker. That was evident in 2018 with the dreaded Cody Parkey field goal being the summary of his season in Chicago. After Gould left, they have had Conor Barth, Mike Nugent, Parkey, and Eddy Pineiro. The Bears believed they had their future in Pineiro, but that changed this season.

Pineiro wasn’t bad last season, but he wasn’t great either. He did hit a crucial 53-yard field goal to beat the Denver Broncos early last season, but also struggled on kicks besides that. He only made 82.1% of his kicks and most of them were chip shots. On top of that, he can never stay healthy.

Because of those issues, Cairo Santos stepped up. He has since been a stud at kicker for the Bears including a pair of huge kicks against the Carolina Panthers and Saints. He hit a career-long 55-yarder against the Panthers and a 51-yarder to send the game into overtime against the Saints.

Finally, the Bears now have consistency at the kicker position after all of these years.