Bear Digest

All NFC North Team: Cairo Santos Stands Out Above Divsion's Kickers

Thanks to Cairo Santos, the Bears have been one of the few division teams able to consistently depend on its place-kicker in the last couple seasons.

Gene Chamberlain

Cairo Santos' dependability on field goals has been beyond question, as he has the Bears' highest field goal percentage.
Cairo Santos' dependability on field goals has been beyond question, as he has the Bears' highest field goal percentage. / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

The great mystery about special teams this season in the NFL is the impact of the kickoff rule change.

The Bears feel like they're ahead of the game from the kicking aspect of it because of Cairo Santos' abilities to place the ball. Rookie punter Tory Taylor also has the ability to kick off.

Of course, the kicker is on their roster to make field goals and Gould received a contract extension because of his ability to do it. The Bears are getting a bargain because his average per year right now rests 17th, not even in the top half of the league at $3.9 million.

Once the Bears were turning over rocks on special teams looking for kickers, but no more, even if they aren't paying much for him. The other three teams in the divison have stumbled around with kickers who struggle in key situations on field goals or extra points.

Here are the specialists from the All-NFC North team headed up by a familiar face to Bears fans.

All-NFC North Special Teams

Kicker Cairo Santos, Chicago Bears

For years, the Bears have had the Gould standard for kickers. No one could match up to Robbie Gould’s numbers after former GM Ryan Pace and coach John Fox so foolishly released him in 2016. Finally, Santos has met this, as his 90.4% field goal percentage in four-plus Bears seasons makes him most accurate in Bears history. Now, in his second stint with he team, he has added long-distance kicks to his repertoire. Over the last two seasons, he’s 11 of 13 from 50 yards or longer after he went 10 of 22 from that range in his first eight seasons with assorted teams. All of this has come despite constantly battling the toughest late-season kicking conditions in the division due to the Soldier Field cold combined with the lakefront wind.

The Brazilian finally flourished once he got healthy following several years of nagging injuries, then settled in with a team in obvious need of a kicker following the infamous Cody Parkey double-doink and national search for his replacement.

Still to be shown by Santos is how he produces in the final seconds for the win, as the Bears simply haven’t been good enough to get in those situations in the last four seasons.

-Gene Chamberlain, Chicago Bears On SI

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Punter Jack Fox, Detroit Lions

The Lions took a chance on Fox during the 2020 season, adding him as an undrafted free agent. Sam Martin, who had been the team's punter since 2013, had signed with the Broncos leaving Detroit with a competition.

Fox won the competition that year and hasn't looked back, as he earned Pro Bowl honors his rookie season.

Last season Fox's yards per punt average was down, but he landed a career-high 45.6 percent of his kicks inside the 20-yard line and had just five go for touchbacks. He remains a field position weapon and the Lions see plenty of value in that.

In addition to his punting prowess, Fox has also gotten the chance to show off his arm during Dan Campbell's tenure. He's 3-for-4 in his career throwing the ball on fake punts, totaling 38 yards and all three of his completions going for first downs.

John Maakaron, Detroit Lions On SI

Returner Keisean Nixon, Green Bay Packers

When the Packers signed Nixon, the two-time All-Pro returner, to a one-year contract in 2022, it wasn’t to be the returner. In fact, Nixon had little experience as a returner. Not in three years with the Raiders. Not even at South Carolina.

However, after former third-round pick Amari Rodgers fumbled away the job midway through the 2022 season, the Packers gave Nixon a shot. He rewarded the Packers with an All-Pro season, then did it again last year to become just the fourth returner to earn back-to-back All-Pro honors.

Of course, he won All-Pro honors practically by default last year. Nixon was No. 1 in the NFL with a 26.1-yard average on kickoff returns. At the same time, he also was second-from-last because only two players had the 20 returns necessary to be listed among the league leaders.

In order to pump life into a dying play, the NFL made sweeping revisions to the kickoff this offseason. That should provide a lot more opportunities for Nixon to do his thing after leading the NFL with six kickoff returns of 50-plus yards and 19 of 30-plus yards the last two seasons.

"I feel like they're changing it for me," Nixon said.

Bill Huber, Green Bay Packers On SI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.