CHICAGO – After two straight games with a blocked field goal attempt – and an NFL-high three this season – Bears kicker Cairo Santos said he took the blame for the “stench” on the unit following a 30-27 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Santos’ 48-yard attempt in the second quarter was blocked by Vikings defensive tackle Jerry Tillery. How it happened was similar to his potential game-winning field goal being blocked by the Green Bay Packers in Week 11.

Minnesota recovered the ball near midfield after the block and quickly took a seven-point lead.

Like Green Bay’s players the week before, the Vikings special teams players said they had been preparing all week to knock one down because they knew Santos’ low ball flights, combined with weaknesses in Chicago’s protection provided the perfect recipe to avoid points. .

“I take the blame for the stink we have on our field goal unit right now,” Santos said. “We’ve had so many kicks in a row without the kicks being blocked. The last two years, 16 50-yarders haven’t had a kick blocked. And sometimes they happen like that, back-to-back.”

Chicago hadn’t blocked three field goal attempts in a season since 2012.

“We don’t really cover a lot of kickers with these types of low trajectories,” Vikings safety Theo Jackson said. “Other weeks you’re trying to figure out, like which hash he’s better on, left hash or right hash? But I feel like this week we did everything we could to get that.”

Santos later connected on a 48-yard field goal to end the game at 27 overtime.

The veteran kicker, who signed a four-year contract extension last December, struggled with his kicking trajectory to pinpoint potential problem areas that could be the cause of the blocks.

“It’s hard for me to go ahead and change because I just don’t see a mishit type of low kick, but I have more of a penetrating, driven ball flight just to make my kicks in windy situations,” Santos said. The wind wasn’t that bad, but it always blows here.

“You always try to hit the ball the same way, but this week I’m always looking at how I can maximize my length with my ball flight so I’m less dependent on playing the wind. So it’s a learning curve for me, and I take responsibility for that.”

Vikings linebacker Jihad Ward said special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said they would have a blocker. Daniels’ coaching point was simple: provide the inside push.

“(Santos’) kicks are always a little lower, so we’re emphasizing this week to get more pressure on the inside,” Jackson said. “Because if we get to where we need to be and put our hands up, it’s going to get blocked because it has a low trajectory.”

Vikings players confidently discussed their scouting report on Santos, and so did two executives from other clubs who played the Bears in the past calendar year. Teams playing Chicago know — and have known in previous seasons — that there is a real chance of blocking 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 holes.

“They’re giving up a lot of penetration in that area,” Jackson said. “So once you see that on film, that they’re constantly giving up there, then we’re going to attack that.”

Linebacker Pat Jones II said he expected Chicago to fix the protection issues the Vikings saw on the Green Bay tape.

“That’s kind of rare because normally teams are going to clear out what they need to,” Jones said. “… You always expect teams to fix things, but we knew if they didn’t fix it, we were going to get one.”

Santos’ blocked field goal wasn’t the only misfortune of 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 on the Chicago 15-yard line.

Five plays later, Vikings running back Aaron Jones punched in 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 sorry for the boys.”

Like Santos, Carter had a moment of redemption later in the game when he notched a 55-yard kickoff return that set up Chicago’s final touchdown drive, which cut the Vikings’ lead to 27–24.

Santos had a successful onside kick on the ensuing drive, but the Bears’ recent struggles with special teams will prompt coach Matt Eberflus to seek more involvement with that unit ahead of Thursday’s game against the Detroit Lions.

“Yes, no doubt,” said Eberflus. “If you have problems with any part of the team, you need to get involved. We need to make sure we clear those things up.”