Chicago Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower called it a “team decision” to not try to get kicker Cairo Santos closer or to a different location on the field before the blocked field goal Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
But Hightower also made no excuses for his field-goal protection unit on the game-ending play that resulted in a 20-19 Packers win.
“The best interest of the team was to kick it,” Hightower said. “And when they call field goal, it’s my job as a coach to get that executed, period.”
Before getting to coach Matt Eberflus’ decision to kick the field goal from 46 yards and the left hash, Hightower first addressed the issues up front that led to the block, still a major talking point this week as the Bears prepare to host the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field.
Packers defensive lineman Karl Brooks pushed his way past offensive lineman Matt Pryor and long snapper Scott Daly and leaped into the air to get a finger on Santos’ kick.
“We’ve just got to get to our technique more quickly and more violently than our opponent, and that’s what needs to happen to firm it up there,” Hightower said. “And I’m looking forward to our guys responding this week and getting that done.”
Packers coach Matt LaFleur and players said after the game that they had identified a weakness in the Bears front, so much so that special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia told the team he wouldn’t understand if they didn’t come away with a blocked field goal.
There also was talk after the game about the lower trajectory of Santos’ kicks on longer field goals. But Hightower brushed away that talk, noting the 160 combined extra points and field goals Santos has kicked with the Bears under his coaching. Santos has made 70 of 78 field goals and 72 of 84 extra points in that three-year span.
“I don’t have an issue with Cairo. I don’t have an issue with our field-goal protection team,” Hightower said. “I feel like the result of that play was not our desired result. But I have faith and confidence in our unit, and I am looking forward to them operating in that situation again when it’s presented.”
Some questions have fallen to Eberflus this week about why he didn’t run an extra play to try to get a shorter field goal for Santos. He had the time. But Eberflus said the Bears were comfortable with Santos kicking from 46 yards and listed risks such as a fumble, tipped pass or false-start or holding penalties as deterrents.
Hightower said the Bears talk all week, before the game and before the series about Santos’ kick and monster kick lines.
“I have confidence in our field-goal team to make it from any distance they call us from,” Hightower said. “Because we’ve already talked about the distance before we go out there.”
Eberflus was asked Wednesday whether there had been any discussion about trying to make sure Santos was able to kick from the right hash, his preferred location on extra points. Eberflus said there was not discussion about it, and Santos kicked from the left hash.
Former Bears long snapper Patrick Mannelly said on the “Spiegel and Holmes Show” on WSCR-AM 670 that it would be “egregious” for there not to be discussion about it, calling it “Coaching 101.”
.@PatrickMannelly goes off on Matt Eberflus' "egregious" coaching in not getting the ball to the right hash for Cairo Santos.
Mannelly is frustrated Eberflus isn't implementing what the Bears have worked on in training camp and practice each day.
Listen: https://t.co/f9L9lvvWtg pic.twitter.com/G0dhdq0Nho
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) November 20, 2024
When Hightower was asked about the criteria that might be used to overrule a kicker’s preference, he again called it a “team decision.”
“(The hash) doesn’t matter because when they call field goal, we’ve got to go out there and perform,” Hightower said. “That’s what matters, going out there and performing and getting the desired result.
“I can’t allow myself to have excuses. I don’t deal in that world. This is a results-based business, and you have to deal in result and fact, correct what happened, move on, use it to your advantage and then let’s go to work. And that’s the mind-state I’m in. All my energy and my focus is on beating Minnesota.”