Kicker Cairo Santos has become indispensable to the Bears. He has given them stability, and they’re giving it to him, as well.
The Bears announced Saturday that Santos, 32, signed a four-year contract extension that runs through the 2027 season. It’s a $16 million deal with $9.5 million guaranteed, a source said.
The $4 million average salary starting next season is slotted at No. 12 among NFL kickers.
It is the biggest contract for a kicker in Bears history, and Santos is well worth it. Initially brought in as a contingency when Eddy Pineiro was injured shortly before the 2020 season, he has turned into the most accurate field-goal kicker in franchise history.
Santos broke Robbie Gould’s single-season accuracy record in his first season by making 93.8% of his field goals and holds the Bears’ career record at 90.5% heading into their game Sunday against the Cardinals. He also has made 92.8% of his extra points.
In addition, Santos set the team record by making 40 consecutive field goals bridging the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Most important to the Bears, however, is that no kicker ever has been better at Soldier Field. Santos leads all players, including opponents, with 91.7% field-goal accuracy in what widely is considered to be the toughest stadium for kickers in the NFL.
Santos has made 93.1% of his field goals (seventh in the league) and 92.3% of his extra points (20th) this season and has sent a career-high 81.4% of his kickoffs for touchbacks. He is 6-for-6 on field goals of 50 yards or longer.
It’s hard to imagine where the Bears’ offense, which averages 20.5 points, would be without Santos. He made four field goals, including the game-winner with 10 seconds left, to beat the Vikings 12-10 in November on his way to being named NFC special-teams player of the month.
Santos and the Bears came together at just the right time in 2020. His career was on the brink of ending, and kicker remained one of the team’s peskiest problems.
After cutting Gould before the 2016 season, the Bears went through five kickers — including a failed stint by Santos in 2017, when he played two games before going on injured reserve — before solidifying the position with Santos in 2020.
Their kicker problem hit an all-time low when former general manager Ryan Pace signed Cody Parkey to a four-year, $15 million contract in 2018, only to see him end a season full of struggles with the infamous double-doink in the playoffs in January 2019.
Santos, meanwhile, started with the Chiefs in 2014 as an undrafted free agent from Tulane and made 96.4% of his field goals before unraveling with injuries. After the Chiefs waived him early in the 2017 season, he bounced among five franchises in less than three years.
It looked as though the Titans would be the last stop for Santos. They signed him as an injury replacement in 2019 but cut him after he went 0-for-4 on field goals in a 14-7 loss to the Bills.
Former coach Matt Nagy pushed for the Bears to sign him in 2020 because he was impressed by Santos during their time together with the Chiefs. After a strong first season, Pace signed Santos to a three-year, $9 million extension that will expire at the end of this season.
Santos is only the second Pace holdover to get a contract extension from general manager Ryan Poles, joining tight end Cole Kmet. Poles praised Santos for his ‘‘consistency and dependability’’ in announcing the deal.
