ESPN REPORT: Another Mega Star Commits....

ESPN REPORT: Another Mega Star Commits To Monsters of the Midway football….

To establish the furthest distance at which kicker Cairo Santos might be effective, the Bears set up a covert line.
December 21, 2023, 10:23 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
In this narrative:
Bears of Chicago
Chicago Bears initiate a dialogue
Given all the language and phrases they create, some NFL coaches seem like good candidates for jobs as advertising writers.

Richard Hightower, the special teams coordinator for the Bears, would be more skilled at this than any of them. For field goal kicker Cairo Santos, in the bitter cold, wind, and precipitation of late-season football, he has coined a new name.

Monster trucks, the Monster Mash, and monster flicks are all well-known. This is the “monster kick line.” How else could the Monsters of the Midway have a kicking line?

Special teams coordinators, head coaches, and their kickers have a kind of double-secret kick line that they need to know, especially when the weather turns nasty.

More than anything else, the weather affects that, according to Hightower. More than any other position, that one. Thus, we discuss it.”

The maximum distance at which kickers have informed coaches they feel comfortable kicking field goals is known as the kick line. It’s actually estimated through guesswork and frequently displayed on TV displays for people to see during games.

“So in our pregame process we work kicks each direction and we always talk about a normal kick line, where we feel comfortable with a high degree of confidence that we’re going to make the kick,” Hightower explained. That’s just one component of it.

However, it also has another component that we refer to as a monster kick line. And that’s the situation at the end of the half or the game where we say, “Hey, there’s a lower percent chance to make it—maybe 1 out of 10 percent.” We were really even outside of our monstrous kick line because of the wind.”

The whole matter surfaced in Cleveland on Sunday when coach Matt Eberflus decided to go for it when Cairo Santos had the option of attempting a 51-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter or a 55-yarder to finish the second. A botched Hail Mary throw concluded the first half, while Justin Fields’ run/pass option run around right end on fourth down in the fourth quarter was unsuccessful.

The Bears were past the monster line on both the standard and monster kick lines, which are not arbitrary bounds. Eberflus said this week that on at least one of those, they were truly past the standard kick line.

Flus and I frequently discuss it, according to Hightower. Before going for a drive, we discuss it. Furthermore, we have a wealth of practice data about it. Even though we have a ton of data and are aware of Cairo’s comfort level entering a game, things can still change. Games are impacted by the weather, which varies as the game progresses.”

The wind might shift in strength or direction, the weather can become better or worse, and coaches can’t stop talking about the kick lines.

“And not only do we do it for Cairo, we do it for their kicker as well cause Flus has to call defense too,” Hightower stated. “It varies at the start of the week, during the pregame, and after the game. Cairo will thus go out and kick the ball at breaks or at the second half, and he will let us know so that we have a solid idea of that.

“So it’s a really intricate process that evolves throughout the game.”

Both times, the Bears were facing the wind. 55 yards is Santos’ career long, but not in the wind and rain.

“That was the very tough end in which direction we were going,” said Hightower. “So we were well outside of the monster kick line.”

The kick line and monster kick line distances are a secret, which is why Eberflus wouldn’t talk about them earlier this week.