Barth actually might have been let go sooner than Nov. 20 if the Bears had felt that Santos was healthy sooner. Santos had a recurring groin issue with the Chiefs in training camp and then again in September that led to his release and ultimately proved to be a problem again for the Bears. But he passed the team’s physical and wound up replacing Barth after the 27-24 loss to the Lions at Soldier Field on Nov. 19. That’s when Barth was wide right from 46 yards with three seconds remaining. Unfortunately, Santos didn’t make it through two games with the team before the groin issue flared up again, ultimately leading to sports hernia surgery that as Santos described at the end of the season was more of a cleanup than anything else. Nugent, a 13-year veteran, was signed for the final four games and made seven of his nine field goal attempts, including a 55-yarder in Week 17 at Minnesota. Nugent missed two extra points. So from a pure field goal/extra point standpoint, it was a rough season for the Bears, one they have to improve upon under first-year coach Matt Nagy, who is accustomed to at least watching his team generally have a special teams advantage on a week in and week out basis.