Bears’ Santos takes blame for ‘stink’ with blocks

CHICAGO — After two straight games with a blocked field goal attempt — and an NFL-high three this season — Bears kicker Cairo Santos said he takes the blame for the “stink” on the unit after a 30-27 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Santos’ 48-yard attempt in the second quarter was blocked by Vikings defensive tackle Jerry Tillery. How it happened was quite similar to his potential game-winning field goal getting blocked by the Green Bay Packers in Week 11.

Minnesota recovered the ball near midfield after the block and soon took a seven-point lead.

Just like Green Bay players the week prior, Vikings special teams players said they’d been preparing all week to knock one down because they knew that Santos’ low-trajectory kicks, combined with weaknesses in Chicago’s protection, provided the perfect recipe to prevent points.

“I take the blame in kind of the stink that we have on our field goal unit right now,” Santos said. “We’ve gone so many kicks in a row without getting kicks blocked, 16 50-yarders the last two years not getting a kick blocked. And sometimes they happen like that, back-to-back.”

Chicago had not had three field goal attempts blocked in a season since 2012.

“We don’t really cover too many kickers that have this type of low trajectory,” Vikings safety Theo Jackson said. “Other weeks you are trying to figure out, like, at what hash is he better on, left or right hash? But I feel like this week we were chomping at the bit to get that.”

Santos later connected on a 48-yard field goal to send the game into overtime tied at 27.

The veteran kicker, who signed a four-year contract extension last December, struggled to pinpoint potential problem areas with his kicking trajectory that could be the root of his kicks being blocked.

“It’s hard for me to go on and change because I just don’t see a mis-hit type of low kick, but I do have more of a piercing, driven ball flight just to help my make my kicks in the windy situations,” Santos said. “The wind wasn’t too bad, but it’s always windy here.

“You always try to hit the ball the same, but this week I’m always looking for how can I maximize my height with my ball flight so I don’t have to rely on playing the wind as much. So it’s a learning curve for me too, and I take responsibility for that.”

Vikings linebacker Jihad Ward said Minnesota special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said they would get a block. Daniels’ coaching point was simple: Get an inside push.

“[Santos’] kicks are always a little lower, so we emphasize getting more push on the inside this week,” Jackson said. “Because if we get to our spot where we’re supposed to be and put our hands up, it’s going to get blocked because it has a low trajectory.”

Vikings players discussed their scouting report on Santos with certainty, and so did two executives for other clubs that have played against the Bears within the last calendar year. Teams that face Chicago know — and have known in previous seasons — that there is a real opportunity to block Santos, better than when facing a kicker with what scouts call a “big leg.”

Jackson said Chicago’s protection is weak because the linemen leave too much space in their gaps.

“They give up a lot of penetration in that area,” Jackson says. “So once you see that on film, that they constantly give up a rush there, that’s what we are going to attack.”

Linebacker Pat Jones II said he expected Chicago to fix those protection issues that the Vikings saw on the Green Bay tape.

“That’s kind of rare, because normally teams will go clean up what they need to clean up,” Jones said. “… You always expect teams to fix stuff, but we knew if they didn’t get it fixed, we’re going to go get us one.”

Santos’ blocked field goal wasn’t the only mishap by Chicago’s special teams. Veteran return specialist DeAndre Carter muffed a punt in the third quarter after the ball hit the ground and bounced off his right leg. It was recovered by Minnesota’s Bo Richter at Chicago’s 15-yard line.

Five plays later, Vikings running back Aaron Jones punched in a 2-yard touchdown to extend Minnesota’s lead to 14.

“Gotta get out of the way of the ball. That’s on me,” Carter said. “I let the team down today. Game shouldn’t have been in the situation it was in. I felt bad for the guys.”

Like Santos, Carter had a moment of redemption later in the game when he logged a 55-yard kickoff return to spark Chicago’s final touchdown drive that cut the Vikings’ lead to 27-24.

Santos had a successful onside kick on the ensuing drive, but the Bears’ recent struggles on special teams will prompt coach Matt Eberflus to seek more involvement with that unit ahead of Thursday’s game against the Detroit Lions.

“Yeah, no doubt,” Eberflus said. “When you have issues on any part of the team, you got to get involved. We have to make sure we clean up those things.”