Mike Vrabel had to watch Thursday night’s game end the hard way, with Cairo Santos drilling a 58-yard field goal to beat his Patriots. But even with the loss hanging over him, Vrabel made sure to tip his cap to the kicker he once coached in Tennessee.
Santos’ path makes that reaction stand out. Back in 2019, he was the Titans’ kicker under Vrabel, and after a Week 5 loss to the Bills in which he missed four field goals, Tennessee cut him the next day.
A stretch like that can knock a young kicker off course for good. Santos didn’t let it.
He kept grinding, landed with the Bears a year later, and has been steady in Chicago ever since. On Thursday night, that reliability showed up again when he shook off an earlier miss from 53 yards and came through with the game-winner.
Vrabel said he was impressed by the way Santos responded.
“Make a 58-yard field goal, I think the last field goal Cairo missed was when he kicked for the Titans,” Vrabel said after the game. “I don’t think he’s missed one since then - he missed one earlier in the game, but we always joke about it.
I’m really proud of what he’s done. I didn’t want him to make it tonight, but he’s a former guy that we coached.”
When asked whether his team had been out-executed, Vrabel kept it simple and gave Santos the credit.
“I don’t know how you get out-executed when a guy makes a 58-yard field goal,” Vrabel said.
It was a sharp, respectful response from Vrabel in a bitter moment: disappointed by the result, but clear about the kick that decided it.
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