Chicago Bears: 5 hot takes on NFL officiating, Roquan Smith and more
By Evan Bruner
Hot take: The Bears were better off going for a Hail Mary than a 65-yard field goal from Cairo Santos
Should the Bears have taken the field goal?
This is probably not much of a hot take, but it’s too interesting a topic not to discuss. The Bears lined their kicker up to take a field goal short by a solid 10 yards over a Hail Mary shot with Justin Fields.
Although it’s unlikely the outcome of the game would’ve changed had the Bears not attempted a field goal, it was puzzling to see a kicker who pretty clearly didn’t have the leg to make the kick go out there with the game on the line. As great of a kicker as Santos has been for Chicago, he hasn’t been asked to kick many length field goals. At 5’8 175, he is well on the smaller side of kickers and doesn’t have the same power others in the league do.
It’s one thing putting a kicker out there who isn’t accurate; there is still a possibility (although small) that they could still make it. However, on the other hand, if a kicker doesn’t have the power to get the ball to the uprights, then there is literally no way the kick can be made.
Bottom line
Few kickers in NFL history could’ve made that kick, and I don’t know if Santos is one of them. It probably wouldn’t have changed things, but I wish Nagy would’ve given Fields a chance to win the game.