When Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos missed a field-goal attempt late in the fourth quarter Sunday, it opened the door for the Minnesota Vikings to take the lead. That could have been the nail in the Bears’ coffin as the Vikings marched down the field to go ahead by one point with 50 seconds to play.

But Santos received his shot at redemption not long after that.

A 56-yard Devin Duvernay kickoff return set up a 48-yard Santos try to win the game, and the veteran did just that.

“The team made it easier for me,” Santos told Marquee Sports Network’s Jeff Joniak in an exclusive interview after the Bears’ 19-17 win. “I just had to make it right for the team.”

[WATCH: Exclusive Cairo Santos interview only on the Marquee Sports Network app]

Thanks to Santos’ walk-off heroics, the Bears improved to 7-3, record their first division win of the 2025 season and occupied the top spot in the NFC North.

Santos even made some franchise history when his 54-yard field goal in the third quarter gave him the most 50-yard-plus field goals for a kicker in Bears history (24), surpassing Robbie Gould.

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Brazilian in his sixth year with the Bears. His field-goal percentage (80.0) through the eight games he’s played is the lowest in his Bears tenure thus far. A quad injury kept him out of the games against the Washington Commanders and New Orleans Saints, as in-season signee Jake Moody took the reins. Moody kicked a game-winning field goal in his Bears debut at Washington.

Still, Santos said he was adamant about having an opportunity to right his wrongs.

“The season hasn’t gone my way in a lot of ways,” Santos told Joniak. “It’s all taught me important lessons — to always be resilient (and) bounce back. I want to be put in that situation like the team gave me at the end of the game. I always feel confident that I’m going to come through.

“In my head, I’m just praying for an opportunity to make the game-winning field kick,” Santos added. “To me, it felt like it was a prayer that was answered.”