Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos connected on a 57-yard field goal to end the first half of Sunday's preseason game at Soldier Field. In a regular-season game, it would have been the longest kick of his career.
Coach Ben Johnson was impressed. "I was joking with him that we probably didn't need that many yards," Johnson said. "We could have kicked it from backed up, the way he nailed that thing."
Conditions helped, as the RealFeel temperature at kickoff was 100 degrees. So did Santos' offseason preparation. He ended up working on distance kicks almost by accident. He and other kickers found a practice field in Jacksonville, Florida, without enough fencing behind either end zone, so they began kicking from deep to keep the ball out of a pond at one end and a road at the other.
On defense, end Austin Booker had three sacks. The third was a strip-sack of Dolphins rookie Quinn Ewers at the Miami 3-yard line late in the third quarter. Booker said that when Ewers did not look to throw the ball away, he took two extra steps and tried to dislodge it.
Booker was one of the Bears' standout players in last year's preseason but finished his rookie season with only 1½ sacks in 17 regular-season games. "I feel like I'm being more consistent than last year," he said.
Fans also got a new look at Soldier Field. The Bears painted their end zones navy for the first time in recent memory, with little fanfare. The south end zone reads "Bears" in orange, and the north end zone reads "Chicago" in orange. Each word is flanked by the NFL logo on the left and the NFC logo on the right. The team used a similar design last year at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, while Soldier Field's end zones had stayed simple for years, with the same design placed on unpainted grass.
The Bears also paid tribute to the late Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve McMichael. A navy football with his No. 76 inside was painted on the 5-yard line on the Bears' sideline, and the team wore a similar decal on its helmets. The club also debuted its Virginia McCaskey tribute patch.
Injuries were a concern. Linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga (shoulder), running back Travis Homer (calf), cornerback Terell Smith (groin) and safety Major Burns (knee) all left the game. Sixth-round rookie offensive lineman Luke Newman was placed in concussion protocol.
The NFL's expanded replay-assist system, which this season reviews more on-field penalties, came into play when officials flagged a face-mask penalty on a run by Kyle Monangai. After replay cleared the Dolphins, the flag was picked up. The announced attendance was 43,537.
