Bears kicker Cairo Santos has been named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in last Saturday night's 22-16 overtime win over the Packers.
In blustery conditions at Soldier Field, Santos converted all three field goals he attempted from 46, 51 and 43 yards and played a key role in the Bears rallying from a late 16-6 deficit. He closed the gap to 16-9 with his 43-yarder with 1:59 remaining, executed a perfect onside kick that teammate Josh Blackwell recovered and then drilled an extra point that tied the score 16-16 with :24 to play.
Santos received a game ball from coach Ben Johnson during the team's raucous locker room celebration.
"He did a phenomenal job," Johnson said. "That's a big asset for us. He's been here. He understands that wind. He does a great job in practice. He gets a lot of time on task with it. I thought he handled it really well. Huge reason why he got a game ball."
After playing two games with the Bears in 2017, Santos rejoined them in 2020 and has been in Chicago ever since. He is the most accurate field-goal kicker in franchise history at 88.3% (158 of 179) and holds the club record for field goals of at least 50 yards with 25. In addition, he has made 84 of 85 attempts under 40 yards.
Santos converted 40 straight field goal tries in 2020-21, a Bears record and tied for the third longest streak in NFL history.
The Brazil native has now won three special teams player of the week awards during his second stint with the Bears, previously being honored in Week 6 in 2020 and Week 7 in 2022.
Santos is the fifth Bears player to win a player of the week award this season, joining quarterback Caleb Williams (Week 3) and tight end Colston Loveland (Week 9) on offense, linebacker D'Marco Jackson (Week 15) on defense and Blackwell (Week 4) on special teams. In addition, cornerback Nahshon Wright was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for November.
