Cairo Santos needs to be more effective than ever now, and possibly even healthier than ever.
The Bears lost their kicking insurance when Washington signed Jake Moody off the practice squad. Unless there’s a health issue with Santos there is no reason to think they would replace Moody.
On Tuesday afternoon, they filled the practice squad vacancy by signing veteran linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin to their practice squad. He’s a former Pro Bowl special teams player who has was with the Lions when Bears coach Ben Johnson was in Detroit.
Reeves-Maybin, 30, has played seven seasons with just 14 starts and has always been a key special teams player. He made the Pro Bowl in 2023.
Losing Moody was not something that could really be helped because practice squad players are free agents.
The only way to thoroughly protect them is put them on the 53-man roster and no one is going to carry two place-kickers. There aren’t enough roster spots available to justify it.
Moody made 8-for-9 for the Bears in two games when pressed into duty, all of them less than 50 yards. He has made 76.1% of his field goals for his career.
There was some irony or perhaps scouting at work here because the Commanders went right after Moody when they decided six misses this season by Matt Gay was enough and they cut him.
Moody had beaten the Commanders with a clutch kick in the rain while replacing injured Santos in Week 6.
The Bears have always shown total confidence in Santos, and coach Ben Johnson said as much after their kicker missed from 45 yards. Instead of trying to get the ball down into chip-shot range and risking a turnover, Johnson had them run it Sunday three times before allowing Santos to kick a 48-yarder for the win.
“That’s who he is,” Johnson said. “He’s a high percentage field goal kicker anyway, so I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. He’s proven that through the course of the season. And really, he’s been doing this for a long time. He does not let things, one miss, faze him.”
Cairo Santos received a game ball for stepping up after a miss and drilling the 48-yard game-winning kick Sunday. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Santos is 16 for 20 this year and has never missed more than four field goals in a season since he came to Chicago for the second time. The first time was in 2017 when he was with the team for two gams while being injured.
If they needed to replace Santos again due to injury, there is one option available right now who could be considered a risk by some teams and that’s 35-year-old Justin Tucker.
The former Ravens kicker was once widely regarded as the best kicker of all time with Baltimore but was struggling with 19 misses between 2022-24. Then he was released after the announcement by the league of a suspension of 10 games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy following accusations of behavior deemed inappropriate with 16 Baltimore area massage therapists from 2012-16.
Justin Tucker is now available to sign with any team looking for a kicker following his suspension. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
Tucker’s suspension was allowed to be served after he was actually out of the league and any team can sign him now. Washington could have signed him instead of Moody but chose the Bears backup.
Santos has made 85.1% of his career attempts (257 of 302) and 88.2% with the Bears (150 of 170). Santos not only is the most accurate Bears kicker ever but now owns the team record for most kicks 50 yards or longer with 24. He moved into first place past Robbie Gould last week.
As for Gould, he’s soon to be 43 years old and out of kicking for since 2022. He coached St. Viator this season but football is over and they finished with a 1-8 record.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin battles with Washington’s Zach Ertz for an onside kick. Reeves-Maybin is now on the Bears practice squad. / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
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