Santos’ 48-yard attempt in the second quarter was blocked by Vikings defensive tackle Jerry Tillery. The way it happened was similar to when the Green Bay Packers blocked his potential game-winning field goal in Week 11.
Minnesota got the ball back near midfield after the block and soon took a seven-point lead.
Like the Green Bay players the week before, the Vikings’ special teams players said they had been preparing all week to take one down because they knew Santos’ low-flying kicks, combined with weaknesses in the Chicago’s protection, provided the perfect recipe for avoiding points. .
“I take the blame for the stink we have in our field goal unit right now,” Santos said. “We’ve made so many kicks in a row without getting blocked, 16 50-yard kicks in the last two years were not blocked. And sometimes it happens like that, back to back.”
Chicago had not had three blocked field goal attempts in a season since 2012.
“We don’t really cover many kickers who have this kind of low trajectory,” Vikings safety Theo Jackson said. “Other weeks you try to figure out which hash is better, left hash or right hash? But I feel like this week we were eager to get it.”
Santos later hit a 48-yard field goal to send the game into overtime tied at 27.
The veteran kicker, who signed a four-year contract extension last December, struggled to identify potential problem areas with his kicking history that could be the root of blocks.
“It’s hard for me to go on and change because I just don’t see a poorly hit type of low kick, but I do have a more penetrating and driven ball flight just to help me perform my kicks in wind situations,” Santos said. “The wind wasn’t that strong, but it’s always windy here.
“You always try to hit the ball the same way, but this week I’m always looking at how I can maximize my height with the flight of the ball so I don’t have to rely so much on playing into the wind. So it’s a learning curve for me. too, and I take responsibility for it.”
Vikings linebacker Jihad Ward said special teams coordinator Matt Daniels had said they would get a block. Daniels’ training point was simple: get an internal push.
“[Santos’] The kicks are always a little bit lower, so we emphasized pushing inside more this week,” Jackson said. “Because if we get to our spot where we’re supposed to be and we put our hands up, it’s going to get blocked because it has a low trajectory. ”
Vikings players disputed their scouting report on Santos with certainty, as did two executives from other clubs who played against the Bears during the last calendar year. Teams facing Chicago know (and have known in previous seasons) that there is a real opportunity to block Santos, better than when facing a kicker with what scouts call a “big leg.”
Jackson said Chicago’s protection is weak because the linemen leave too much room in their gaps.
“They give up a lot of penetration in that area,” Jackson said. “So once you see that on film, that they constantly stop running there, that’s what we’re going to attack.”
Linebacker Pat Jones II said he hoped Chicago would fix those protection issues the Vikings saw on Green Bay’s tape.
“That’s a little weird, because normally teams clean what they need to clean,” Jones said. “…You always hope teams fix things, but we knew if they didn’t, we were going to get one.”
Santos’ blocked field goal wasn’t the only mishap for Chicago’s special teams. Veteran return specialist DeAndre Carter muffed a punt in the third quarter after the ball hit the ground and bounced off his right leg. It was recovered by Minnesota’s Bo Richter at the Chicago 15-yard line.
Five plays later, Vikings running back Aaron Jones scored a 2-yard touchdown to extend Minnesota’s lead to 14.
“I have to get out of the way of the ball. That’s on me,” Carter said. “I let the team down today. The game shouldn’t have been in the situation it was in. I felt bad for the guys.”
Like Santos, Carter had a redeeming moment later in the game when he nailed a 55-yard kickoff return to spark Chicago’s final touchdown drive that cut the Vikings’ lead to 27-24.
Santos had a successful onside kick on the ensuing series, but the Bears’ recent struggles on special teams will lead coach Matt Eberflus to seek more involvement with that unit ahead of Thursday’s game against the Detroit Lions.
“Yes, without a doubt,” said Eberflus. “When you have problems anywhere on the team, you have to get involved. We have to make sure we fix those things.”
