In 2019, Cairo Santos was the Titans’ kicker and Mike Vrabel was their head coach. In a loss to the Bills in Week 5, Santos missed four field goals. It was cut the next day.
That kind of outing can end a young kicker’s career, but Santos kept working, signed a year later with the Bears and has been a reliable kicker in Chicago ever since — including making the game-clinching 58-yarder in a win over Vrabel’s Patriots on Thursday night.
Vrabel wasn’t happy about that, but he sounded genuinely happy for Santos in his postgame comments, saying he was impressed with how Santos shook off a previous 53-yard miss and said he wasn’t sure he’d seen Santos miss a field goal since that last game as a Titan.
“Make a 58-yard field goal, I think the last field goal Caire missed was when he kicked for the Titans,” Vrabel said after the game. “I don’t think he’s missed one since, he missed one earlier in the game, but we always joke about it. I’m really proud of what he did. I didn’t want him to make it tonight, but he’s an old guy that we coached.”
When asked if his team was outplayed, Vrabel said it was just a good kick from Santos.
“I don’t know how you can be outplayed when a guy makes a 58-yard field goal,” Vrabel said.
It was a classy post-match comment from Vrabel, who gave Caesar what’s Caesar’s, even in the moments after a disappointing defeat.
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