LANDOVER, Md. — For just the second time in his six seasons as the Bears’ kicker, Cairo Santos was out Monday against the Commanders.
He injured the quad muscle in his kicking leg Sept. 28 against the Raiders and finished that game, but was unable to do kickoffs. He appeared to be progressing toward playing, but the Bears made him inactive and went with Jake Moody.
Moody capped their opening drive by making a 47-yard field goal from the right hash mark and hit from 48 yards later in the first quarter. He became the seventh player to kick a field goal for the Bears since they cut mainstay Robbie Gould in 2016.
He has been on their practice squad for a month after the 49ers cut him and was promoted to the active roster hours before kickoff. They drafted him out of Michigan in the third round in 2023, the highest any kicker has been picked since 2016, and he played well as a rookie, but his accuracy declined last season.
The 49ers waived him after he went 1-for-3 in their opener, missing a field goal from 27 yards and having one blocked from 36.
Santos got the job in 2020 when Eddy Pineiro was injured during training camp and never let go of it. He is the most accurate field-goal kicker in franchise history at 89.2% and the most accurate in the history of Soldier Field at 88.7%.
The only other game Santos has missed was in 2022 against the Giants when he was out because of a personal reason.
