Cairo Santos has been the kicker in Chicago for the past five years, but it appears that the Bears might be thinking about making a change. The team has decided to sign former San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody to the practice squad, according to NFL Media. The move comes just three days after Moody was released.Â
It’s certainly interesting signing and it could signal that new Bears coach Ben Johnson is at least considering the possibility of making a change at kicker.Â
Santos had a rough opening week for the Bears during their 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Not only did he miss a 50-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter, but he failed to boot the ball out of the end zone on Chicago’s final kickoff of the night, which ended up being costly. If the kickoff had gone out of the end zone, the Bears would have had a free clock stoppage with the two-minute warning, but instead, the Vikings were able to return the ball and take the clock to the two-minute warning.Â
Earlier this week, Johnson did take the blame for not asking Santos to kick the ball out of bounds, but based on his comment, it’s pretty clear that he assumed that Santos would be able to boot the ball out of the back of the end zone.Â
“At the end of the game, I felt like we could kick it out of the back (of the end zone), we weren’t able to get that done. In hindsight, I should’ve kicked it out of bounds,” Johnson said Tuesday.
With the kickoff spot at the 35, that would be a 75-yard kick to put the ball out of the end zone and although Santos may not have the leg for that, Moody definitely does.Â
When Johnson was in Detroit last season, he had a big-legged kicker in Jake Bates, who hit 89.7% of his field goal attempts with a long of 58 yards. Santos had a decent season in 2024, hitting 84% of his kicks, but he made just 76.4% of his field goal attempts from 40 yards and out, going 13 of 17 (Three of his four misses were blocked and which reflects poorly on both Santos and the Bears field goal team). Â
With Moody now heading to Chicago, the Bears are likely kicking the tires on the former 49ers kicker to see if a change of scenery will help him. Moody has a huge leg, but he’s struggled with his accuracy. He hit just 70.6% of his field goal attempts in 2024, which was the third-worst percentage in the NFL for any kicker with more than 15 attempts.Â
Moody also went just 1 of 3 in San Francisco’s Week 1 win over the Seahawks and the 49ers decided to cut him after that performance. In the opener, he missed a kick from 27 yards out and had a 36-yarder blocked.Â
Dating to last year, Moody’s accuracy rate is just 46.7% on his last 15 field goal attempts and if he can’t fix that, he won’t be with the Bears for long. For some kickers, getting a clean slate is exactly what they need and Moody will be getting that in Chicago. The former third-round pick definitely has a stronger leg than Santos and if he can fix his accuracy issues, it won’t be surprising if the Bears eventually give him a shot to kick in a game.Â
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