Mike Vrabel is proud of ex-Titan Cairo Santos, despite losing to him on Thursday night - NBC Sports
NFL coach Mike Vrabel expressed professional respect for kicker Cairo Santos after Santos kicked a game-winning 58-yard field goal against Vrabel's team. Despite the loss, Vrabel praised Santos's resilience and career turnaround since being cut from the Titans in 2019.
Why it matters
This human-interest story highlights the professional camaraderie and resilience found within professional sports culture.
In 2019, Cairo Santos was the Titans’ kicker and Mike Vrabel was their head coach. In a Week 5 loss to the Bills, Santos missed four field goals. He 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 the way Santos shook off an earlier miss from 53 yards and said he’s not sure if he had seen Santos miss a field goal since that final game as a Titan.
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