Chicago Bears officially put captain on notice with signing

According to NFL Insider Jordan Schultz , former San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody is signing with the Bears’ practice squad, putting Santos on notice in Week 2.

Moody, a 2023 third-round pick by the 49ers, went 1-of-3 kicking in Week 1. He had a great rookie season (making 84% of his field goal attempts) but struggled after suffering a high-ankle sprain in 2024. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan believes Moody needed a change of scenery.

“He wasn’t kicking the ball well enough, and it was way too inconsistent,” Shanahan said via 49ers Webzone. “So, once that happens, and when your stroke in golf is changing all the time, and you’re trying to fix things, trying not to miss, it’s very hard to succeed at this level that way. There wasn’t anything I had to beat around the bush on. He knew that.

“And to a degree, I think this will give him a chance to move on, and hopefully, find a place where he can get a swag back in that way.”

The Chicago Bears have a kicking problem

On Thursday, Bears special teams coordinator explained Santos’ issues on Monday night, saying the veteran whiffed on his kickoff in the fourth quarter.

“He just didn’t hit it as flush as he wanted to hit it,” Hightower said. “It just didn’t go out the back, and that happens. And guess what? Nobody feels worse about that than Cairo. Nobody does.”

Hightower was unhappy with the missed field goal, and blamed Santos and the entire field goal team for the missed kick.

‘We never want to leave points on the board,” Hightower said. “My diagnosis is it always starts with the operation. Snap, hold and kick. That wasn’t clean. Protection was good. That wasn’t clean and we didn’t get it done and we need to get that done.”

Santos signed a contract extension with the Bears in 2023 thatgoes through 2027. He’s made 85.2% of his field goal attempts in his career. However, he struggles from deep, going 96-of-131 from attempts more than 40 yards.