Cairo Santos’ 58-Yard Kick Closes a Messy Bears Win

Cairo Santos made a 58-yard field goal with 1:34 left, and the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots 30-24 on Thursday night. Chicago never trailed at Soldier Field. Luther Burden had already gone quiet.

The kick came after Santos hit the right upright from 53 yards in the same quarter, and after Caleb Williams took a 10-yard sack that looked as if it had ended the drive.

Luther Burden’s 130 Yards All Came Before Halftime

Burden, the second-year Bears receiver, finished with four catches for 130 yards and a touchdown on four targets. He also ran once for 7 yards. Every catch came in the first half. After the break he was off the stat sheet.

THE FIRST-HALF CATCHES

• 26 yards: A throw to the New England 28 set up Santos’ 43-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead at 9:53 of the first quarter.
• 58 yards: He broke open across the middle, picked up a long run after the catch, and Kevin Byard dragged him down at the 4, setting up D’Andre Swift’s 4-yard score for 10-0.
• 22 yards: The catch moved Chicago into scoring range late in the second quarter, after Gabe Jacas’ roughing-the-passer flag kept the drive alive.
• 24-yard score: A wide receiver screen with 14 seconds left in the half made it 20-7, Burden weaving behind the blocking for the touchdown.

Add those four gains and you get 130 on the nose, at 32.5 yards a catch, with a long of 58. It was his first 100-yard game of 2026, four nights after an 8-catch, 95-yard night in Atlanta, and it pushed his season line to 35 catches for 491 yards and two scores.

Williams calls him Problem Child, and for one half the name fit. New England’s secondary was thin, with Christian Gonzalez slowed by illness and other cornerbacks out, and Burden ran through the gaps. Then the Patriots took him away, and four other Chicago receivers still finished with at least three catches each.

Drake Maye Left Points on the Goal Line

The game’s only turnover landed in the end zone. New England had a first down at the Chicago 15 with 3:32 left in the half when Maye tried tight end Eli Raridon in the back of the end zone. Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson stepped in front, picked it, and downed it for a touchback.

Chicago turned that gift into the Burden screen and a 20-7 lead. It should have been the dagger. Instead the Bears defense handed the points back on the last snap before intermission.

Maye hit A.J. Brown for 18 yards, Brown’s first catch, and called timeout at the Chicago 48 with 3 seconds left. The Bears blitzed. Maye dumped it to Rhamondre Stevenson, who caught it around the 47 and ran through a prevent look for a 48-yard touchdown as time expired. Chicago had outgained New England 211 yards to 161 before that play. At the half it was 20-14, and the building had gone from loud to uneasy.

Maye’s throw to Raridon was the one that stuck. It was his third end-zone interception of the season, and it was the difference between a lead and a chase. He still ran for a 7-yard touchdown at 11:33 of the second quarter, spinning through a hit at the 2 and stretching the ball over the line to make it 10-7. The rest of his night was accurate. That one ball was not.

New England Stayed Within One Score After the Break

Chicago answered the half-ending screen the way Ben Johnson’s team has been built to answer, with a 9-play, 72-yard drive. Williams found tight end Colston Loveland for a 12-yard touchdown at 9:41 of the third, Loveland driving through three defenders, and the lead was 27-14.

Maye drove 80 yards the other way. The 30-yard strike to Raridon at 3:46 of the third, the same tight end he had underthrown before the half, made it 27-21. A.J. Brown finished with 3 catches for 48 yards. When Maye needed chunk plays, he kept going to backs and tight ends.

SCORING BY QUARTER

The missed kick that kept New England alive is the one that does not sit in that table. With about 8 minutes left, Santos pushed a 53-yard try off the right upright, and the score stayed 27-21. The drive had eaten roughly five minutes. It still left Maye a one-score path.

Linebacker T.J. Edwards was already out with a hamstring injury, and running back Kyle Monangai and linebacker Jack Sanborn were inactive. Tight end Cole Kmet, who had 3 catches for 28 yards, was carted off with a lower-leg injury at 5:34 of the fourth. Chicago still ran 22 times for Swift’s 78 yards and held the ball long enough to make New England’s last two possessions a sprint.

What Cairo Santos Told Ben Johnson on the Headset

The winning kick almost never happened. On third-and-5 from the New England 30, Christian Barmore sacked Williams for 10 yards and shoved Chicago back to the 40. Johnson first called for a punt. An injury timeout gave the staff time to argue about it.

Johnson asked special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, who was standing next to the kicker, whether Santos wanted the attempt. Santos could hear the conversation on the headset. He did not wait for a relay.

I want it.

Cairo Santos, Bears kicker, after Thursday’s game

From the New England 40, the try was 58 yards. Santos’ previous career long was 55. He had just missed from 53. Johnson sent him out anyway, and Santos hit a career-long 58-yard field goal down the middle with 1:34 on the clock. The 12-play, 51-yard drive had lasted 4:48. Chicago led 30-21, a two-score game at last.

THE GUTS pic.twitter.com/NtgOLumfBD

— NFL (@NFL) October 23, 2026

He missed from 53, then made it from five yards farther in the same quarter, after a sack and after a punt call. That is a lot to ask of a kicker who is not known as a long specialist. The kick tied Robbie Gould’s franchise record from 2013 and stands as the third-longest field goal ever made at Soldier Field.

Maye still had time. He moved New England into range, and Andy Borregales made a 47-yarder at 0:37 to make it 30-24. Mitch Wishnowsky’s onside kick, a spinning dropkick to the left, hung up for Rome Odunze, who fell on it. Williams took a knee. The clock died with Chicago in front.

308 Yards, 321 Yards and One Interception

The 2024 draft classmates put up nights that look almost the same until you get to the turnovers. Williams, the No. 1 pick, went 22 of 33 for 308 yards and two touchdowns with a 116.7 rating in his second game back from a hamstring injury. Maye, taken third, went 24 of 31 for 321 yards and two scores, plus the 7-yard run, and the one pick. The Patriots at Bears game center is where those lines sit together.

Williams was 9 of 16 for 167 yards and the Burden touchdown at the half, then 13 of 17 for 141 after it, including the throw to Loveland. Maye was 12 of 15 for 169 yards at the break, then 12 of 16 for 152. Chicago outgained New England 405 yards to 380. The Bears did not turn it over. The Patriots did, once, and it was in the end zone.

Kyler Gordon ended New England’s first drive with a sack on fourth-and-5 at the Chicago 45, the same nickel who had three sacks in his season debut against Atlanta. Grady Jarrett and Dillon Thieneman later shared a 9-yard sack of Maye. The Patriots still finished with 24 points on a short week, on the road, with third-stringers on the offensive line. They did not leave empty. They left 4-3, the three-game streak over, after a stretch in which Maye had thrown 10 touchdowns and one interception.

Chicago Honored Mike Ditka and Still Needed a Kick

It was the Bears’ first home game since Hall of Famer Mike Ditka died on Oct. 9. They held a pregame moment of silence for the tight end and coach, then spent the rest of the night protecting a lead that never felt safe. Chicago scored on five of its first six possessions, three of them touchdowns, and still needed Santos from 58.

THE NFC NORTH AFTER THURSDAY

• Minnesota: 5-0, still unbeaten, with a Sunday date against Indianapolis.
• Chicago: 5-2 and 3-1 at home, off until a Monday night trip to Seattle on Nov. 2.
• Green Bay: 4-2 heading into Sunday against Detroit.
• Detroit: 3-2, also waiting on that Sunday game.

New England is 4-3 and 1-3 on the road, with a Week 8 game against the Dolphins in Miami. Brown is still looking for the game that matches the player the Patriots thought they were adding. Stevenson had 5 catches for 93 yards and the half-ending score, plus 6 carries for 22 yards, and that was the offense’s cleanest night from a skill player who is not Maye.

Burden’s 130 yards will be the clip that travels. Santos’ 58-yarder is the play that ended the argument.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Shares the Bears’ Record for Longest Field Goal?

Cairo Santos’ 58-yarder tied Robbie Gould’s franchise record, set in 2013, and it is the third-longest field goal ever made at Soldier Field. Santos’ previous career long was 55 yards, which is why the 53-yard miss earlier in the fourth quarter made the longer try look like a stretch.

How Many Receiving Yards Did Luther Burden Have in His Last Two Games?

Burden has 225 receiving yards in the two games since Williams returned from a hamstring injury, 95 on 8 catches at Atlanta on Oct. 18 and 130 on 4 catches against New England, with the touchdown screen in the first half of Thursday’s win.

What Did the Bears Hand Out to Honor Mike Ditka?

They handed out fake mustaches to a crowd of 60,520 at Soldier Field, on top of the pregame moment of silence, in the first home game since Ditka died on Oct. 9.

Where Did Caleb Williams and Drake Maye Come Out in the 2024 Draft?

Williams went No. 1 to Chicago and Maye went No. 3 to New England. Thursday was their second meeting as longtime friends from that draft class, and Williams got the win with 308 yards and no turnovers against Maye’s 321 yards, two touchdowns, and the end-zone pick.

Odunze covered the onside kick. Williams took a knee. The Bears walked off 5-2, a 58-yard kick still hanging in the air behind them.