When Cairo Santos jogged onto the field Saturday night with 2:16 left in regulation and the Bears trailing the Packers by two scores, he lined himself up along the right hash for a 43-yard field goal attempt.
As the 11-year veteran took his typical three steps backward, he glanced up toward the uprights that swayed due to the blustering winter wind. If Santos could see all the way between the posts and into the stands, he would've likely seen hundreds of Bears fans holding their breath and holding onto the, at the time, slim chance of remaining the top team in the NFC North.
For the 69th time in Santos' career, and the third time that night, the officials signaled "good" on his kick at Soldier Field. Aside from the one extra point he made shortly after, the 43-yarder was his easiest kick of the game on a night where weather conditions, which were categorized by special teams coordinator Richard Hightower as "ridiculous," made every attempt the ultimate challenge.
"You have your pants feeling like they're about to fall off of you because the wind is blowing so much," Hightower said. "You've got a call sheet in your hand and your papers are just rustling. So it was noticeable. Just cups blowing on the field. I think one of the coolers fell over or something."
For the Bears, Santos is ultimately an advantageous chess piece.
Now in his sixth straight season in Chicago, he possesses the best field goal percentage in Soldier Field history, which sits at 88.5% after Saturday. Santos' incomparable accuracy at one of the toughest places to kick in the league not only propelled the Bears to eventually send the game to overtime, but led to the offense's only points through 58 minutes.
Santos' first field goal didn't come until the 12:17 mark of the third quarter, when he lined up to attempt a 46-yarder into the wind. With the uprights wobbling from side to side, Santos' kick bent just enough to sneak inside the right upright.
His next attempt would be a 51-yarder with 10:57 left in regulation. And while Santos was technically lined up with the wind, he identified it as "more of a crosswind that you just have to play perfect."
He did just that, and drilled the ball down the middle to bring the Bears within 13-6 and notch his 25th career field goal of 50-plus yards, the most by any kicker in franchise history.
"For Cairo to have the mental fortitude to withstand that wind and go out there and play that wind and those conditions, I mean, it doesn't surprise me because that's who he is," Hightower said. "He's consistent, he's clutch. But that was an unbelievable performance by Cairo to be able to play those conditions.
"We always talk about 'Play the conditions.' Don't try to beat the conditions. Play with what Mother Nature is giving you. Rarely I have moments where I'm like, 'wow, those are unbelievable plays.' But there were a couple of those where you sat back and said, 'wow, he made that kick, that was awesome.'"
Santos' perfect game didn't end there, and it couldn't if the Bears were to pull off their sixth and most dramatic comeback victory of the season against their longtime rivals.
Just after the 43-yard field goal and ensuing two-minute warning, the Bears signaled for Santos to attempt an onside kick in hopes of putting the ball back in the hands of quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense.
Hightower said an onside kick, which has just a 9% success rate, takes "hours and hours of countless work" to get right. It's a play that the Bears not only rep multiple times a week in practice, but one that Santos himself has spent years working on both inside and outside of Halas Hall. So when the occasion rose, Santos executed what he said was "the best I've ever hit that kick."
As the football spun off Santos' foot and toward Romeo Doubs, five Bears special teamers took off toward the Packers receiver. With defensive end Daniel Hardy and linebacker Noah Sewell charging at Doubs, the ball took the perfect bounce at the exact right time and ricocheted off Doubs. That allowed Josh Blackwell, who coach Ben Johnson referred to after the game as a "special teams demon, to recover the loose ball and give the ball back to the Bears.
"He's a star," Santos said of Blackwell. "He makes plays all over special teams for us. I just needed to get a good bounce. I know he's 'Johnny on the spot,' and always finds a way to make plays. All I was thinking was 'Give him a chance, give him a ball that's bouncy, that's unpredictable.' So I hit it really well, and that's what we needed to make a play."
In typical Blackwell fashion, the undrafted Duke product remained humble as ever in the locker room after the game, stating the ball "just landed" at him, and giving all the credit to Santos.
"He's incredible," Blackwell said of Santos. "That's just who he is. He has ice in his veins, and he's just a good human, and he just deserves all the credit that he gets. "
While his credit to Santos is warranted, Blackwell executing his role on the onside kick deserves the same level of recognition. Johnson made sure both special teamers understood their value in the 22-16 victory by giving each of them a game ball during the Bears' celebration in the locker room.
"With the onside kick, you've got to start with Coach Hightower — he does a phenomenal job each week drilling that play and making sure we're prepared," Johnson said Monday. "All of our guys were dialed in. They knew what they were doing. Cairo had an excellent kick, made it very difficult on their side. I thought we executed at a really high level and blocked well [and were] able to recover it.
"[We were] talking as a staff yesterday, where does Blackwell look like relative to the league? We feel like he's one of the best special teams players in the NFL right now/ Whether he gets that recognition or not publicly, I don't know. Yet, he's a part of our success as a team, our special teams unit as a whole, he's really found quite a niche there."
Over the past several weeks, the special teams unit has approached each game with the same mindset, which is, according to Blackwell: "Creating momentum and sustaining momentum. When you make a play, let's make another play."
That's a mentality that Blackwell has embodied, including dating back to last season. From a punt return touchdown at Lambeau Field in last year's season finale to a game-winning blocked field goal against the Raiders Sep. 28 to downing a punt at the 1-yard line last week versus the Browns, Blackwell has exceeded each special teams role given to him.
Those moments are exactly why general manager Ryan Poles signed Blackwell to a two-year contract extension during the offseason.
"He's helped us win multiple games," Hightower said. "I like to call him 'All-Pro Black' because I want him to think that way. And to me, a Pro Bowl player or All-Pro player is someone who that affects the game in several different phases.
"And personally for him, I'm ecstatic, because he's able to reach a dream that, even he has said publicly, sometimes he didn't know if he could achieve. But for him to constantly have the mindset of getting better and never settling, that's kind of like what our rally cry is after games. Just never settling, continuous improvement, trying to get better, never thinking that you made it. That has allowed him to continue to make more and more plays."
Aside from the extra point to officially tie the game following Williams' touchdown pass to rookie receiver Jahdae Walker, the special teams unit had finished its job. If they were called upon again in overtime, Hightower's group would, of course, be ready, but they didn't anticipate they would be needed.
"When I saw Blackwell get that ball, I knew in my head, we're gonna go win this thing," Hightower said. "You've got coach Johnson calling those plays. You've got Caleb at the helm. You've got all of those guys out there that just know how to win in the fourth quarter.
"Myself and the special teams unit, we were talking, and we were just so happy to be a part of it, because all we want to do is help the team. And it was the offense's turn to win it this time."
