Cubs News: Hightower takes responsibility for blocked FG against Packers |
CHICAGO—Special teams do not often take the spotlight. Typically, when they do, it is because of a game-winning field goal or, in the case of Chicago, what should have been a game-winning field goal.
Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower expressed his disappointment, but took full responsibility for his role in the Bears’ loss to the Green Bay Packers this past Sunday. “Obviously, extremely disappointed with the way the game ended,” Hightower said. “For any success or any failure of any field goal, it starts with the protection, the operation and the execution and when those things are right, you have a successful field goal. When those things are wrong, your field goal isn’t what you want it to be and that starts and ends with me.” Kicker Cairo Santos has been incredibly reliable with kicks under 40 yards. In fact, he has not missed a single field goal under 40 yards in his 71 attempts during the six seasons Santos has spent with the Chicago Bears. However, some players on the Packers said after the game they saw an opportunity to block the field goal because it was 46 yards and Santos typically has a lower trajectory from that distance. Hightower does not see Santos’ trajectory as being an issue going forward. “I don’t have an issue with Cairo. I don’t have an issue with our field goal protection team. I feel like the result of (that) play wasn’t our desired result. But, I have faith and confidence in our unit and I’m looking forward to them operating in that situation again when it’s presented,” Hightower said. “We’ve kicked over 160 kicks here and our process has been good when it comes to field goal. The result was not what we wanted. It’s not what we wanted and that starts with me and it ends with me. Got to do with nobody else.” Some other aspects of that field goal attempt were more controversial. Given Santos’ record under 40 yards, there were questions as to why head coach Matt Eberflus elected to run the clock down from 35 seconds to three seconds instead of getting him closer. Furthermore, Eberflus submitted the play to the league because he felt Green Bay committed a leveraging penalty. Neither of those factors matters to Hightower, however, as he is solely focused on executing the field goal. “The result is to win and it don’t change the result. So, what I’m concerned with is what I can do better as a coach, how I can coach the protection better, the operation better and the execution (because) that’s what’s in my control. So, that’s what I’m focused on,” Hightower said. “The best interest of the team was to kick it and when they call field goal, it’s my job as a coach to get that executed. Period.” It was not all doom and gloom on special teams against Green Bay. The kickoff coverage unit successfully contained Keishan Nixon, who has been named an All-Pro in the past two seasons as a kick returner. Rookie punter Tory Taylor also did well as he averaged 41.5 yards per punt and pinned one of those inside of the 20-yard line. “Our kickoff coverage unit, they covered their ass off versus a Pro-Bowl player that’s been an All-Pro, first-team All-Pro (the) last two years. So, that was a very positive point in the game. Punt return, didn’t have an opportunity. We only had the one there with (returner) DeAndre (Carter). It was a bad ball that they hit that rolled, a good bounce for them,” Hightower said. “Punt did (an) excellent job there on the punt and pin. Obviously, we got to be smarter on the post-snap of that play. But, other than that, the other units, I thought they showed up to play, and I thought they operated at a high level like they do every week, and we got (to) get up off the mat, and we got to go back to work.”
