Cairo Santos Flops at Passing But Kicks It Just Fine

Special teams player of the week got his start in the sport by trying to throw it instead of kick it

For Cairo Santos, a career as an NFL kicker started because he couldn't throw a spiral through a basketball hoop.

Then again, the Chicago Bears kicker shouldn't have known how to throw a football at all because he'd always been a soccer player in Brazil.

Santos came to Florida in an exchange program at age 15 and one fall day was with friends and a host "brother" trying to throw football spirals through a basketball hoop.

"I couldn't throw the football as a spiral," Santos said. "He said just (to) kick it. They held it down and I kicked it four houses down. They said it went 60 yards approximately.

"I was like, 'was that good?' He said, kickers usually don't do that in high school."

So Santos then had an official tryout.

"The next day after school, there was a football practice and they talked to the coach and said we have this Brazilian kid that plays soccer and he can kick a ball," Santos said. "They backed me up to 50 yards and I made a 50-yarder that first day. They said, 'You're on the team. You're playing Friday.' "

That solved one issue. The other issue was Santos had no idea how the game was actually played and when he would be kicking. 

So he had to enlist help teaching him this in a hurry.

"And I went out and got the Madden game, I think it was a 2007 Madden game for Xbox," Santos said. "That's how I started learning the rules, downs. And the first couple games I had a coach that held me by his arm and said if don't go past the sticks right there it's fourth down and you have to kick the ball.  

"That's kinda how I learned the game. The video game helped me a lot."

With this, Santos began kicking with serious intention.

"The light bulb just went off and I was trying to come here and play soccer and be an athlete on the collegiate level," he said. "Football was a path where the door just started to open, so I was really excited to attack both paths and see which one was gonna turn out. Football played out better."

Santos has been named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his three field goals, including a 55-yarder, in the Bears victory over Carolina. He's made 10 of 12 this season, including seven straight.

The season is redemption of sorts for him after a series of injuries derailed him following his departure from Kansas City and then struggles in Tennessee.

"It's been a hard road for me with the injuries, changes and teams," Santos said. "Changing technique to see what works better for my body. I've been dealing with recoveries, surgeries, all of that. This year, I really like the changes that I've made. It reminds me of my second and third years in Kansas City.

"I feel like everything looks exactly that way. My ball striking looks exactly that way, too. I'm in a zone right now. I was getting a lot of good kicks those years, some honors, too."

The changes have been in his technique, shortening up steps and attempting to make good contact. Along the way, Santos has learned about playing and practicing in the windy city.

"I think when we get a practice here at Halas Hall, it's way harder than Soldier," Santos said about the wind. "Our fields are so open. I feel like it's always gusting. It's a good preparation. It just feels like when we get to these conditions, even in Carolina, there's a minor wind where you just didn't see the ball moving. It's like nothing compared to what I deal with every day.

"But it also requires me to be so much more focused on every kick because you have to just play it and hit the ball so perfect to make kicks in these conditions."

Santos recalled how one day the wind was blowing so hard the crossbar wasn't level to the ground.

"We had to have somebody, a grounds crew, kinda loop a rope on the crossbar and pull it down, the goalpost, so it would straighten it during the period," Santos said. "So we kicked the field goals. I actually went 8-for-8.

"They untied it and the goalpost went back. So a pretty interesting experience that I never had—somebody had to hold down the goalpost."

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