Bears sign Mike Nugent, place Cairo Santos on IR

The Chicago Bears have signed kicker Mike Nugent and have placed Cairo Santos on injured reserve, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs.

Santos reportedly suffered a groin injury in pregame warmups before the Bears’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. This explains why punter Pat O’Donnell was seen attempting field goals during halftime.

Nugent, 35, has played for six other teams in his 13-year career. He played four games for the Dallas Cowboys when kicker Dan Bailey when down with an injury. He completed seven of his nine field goal attempts in that time, and ended up going three-for-four from 40 yards or more. He also made all eight of his extra point tries.

Nugent has a career field goal percentage of 80.7, as well as a 97 percent rate on extra points.

Santos was brought in after the Bears cut Connor Barth on November 20. He made one of his two field goal attempts with the team, and went two-for-two on PATs, a fact made even more impressive considering that he had been playing injured when he kicked his extra points.

The 26-year-old was cut by the Kansas City Chiefs after he suffered a groin injury in September. He appeared to be healthy when the Bears had signed him, but he reaggravated his injury this week.

Nugent joins the Bears as the oldest member of the roster, beating out second-place Mark Sanchez by four years.