Late Bears inactive will have major implications for Monday Night Football

Cairo Santos will not play for the Chicago Bears when they take on the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football to close out Week 6.

The team announced Santos, along with Grady Jarrett, Jahdae Walker, Case Keenum, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Ruben Hyppolite and Luke Newman will all be inactive.

Jarrett, who was ruled out on Saturday, has been dealing with a knee injury since Week 1. Jarrett managed to play through the injury in Weeks 2 and 3, but he sat against the Raiders in Week 4.

The team signed Jarrett to a free agent deal over the offseason to help the defensive line. He's only managed four tackles and three QB hits in his limited time with the Bears, though.

When Jarrett didn't play in Las Vegas, they used Andrew Billings more in the middle of the line. The team could do the same on Monday night in Washington.

Bears need to win without their starting kicker against the Commanders

Santos was listed on the Bears' injury report with a right thigh injury, but he was a full participant in practice every day. He was officially listed as questionable to play on the team's final injury report of the week.

With Santos sidelined, the Bears will turn to Jake Moody for placekicking duties. The team elevated him from the practice squad earlier on Monday.

The 49ers drafted Moody in the third round (No. 99 overall) of the 2023 NFL draft. He was solid as a rookie, connecting on 84% of his field goal attempts and hitting an NFL-leading 60 of 61 extra-point attempts. He hit a career high 57-yarder in Week 2.

Moody took a step back in his sophomore season, hitting just 70.6% of his field goal attempts, as he battled through an ankle sprain he suffered partway through the season. The Niners cut Moody after Week 1 this year, when he missed on two of three field goal attempts, including one try from just 27 yards out.

Santos also had a rough start to the season. He missed a 50-yard field goal attempt in Week 1, then failed to kick the ball out of the endzone on his final kickoff of the night. That allowed the Vikings to bring the clock under two minutes and seriously hampered the Bears' chances at a comeback.

Read more: These are Bears fans' biggest fears (but are they unfounded or spot on?)

Since then, however, Santos has been perfect. He's gone five-for-five, including two 50+ yarders. He's also hit all eight of his point-after tries.