Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos will really feel greater than the standard Week 1 pleasure when he practices at Soldier Field on Friday.
He’s additionally keen to look at a brand new taking part in floor he hopes will make it simpler to kick at house beginning in Sunday’s season opener in opposition to the San Francisco 49ers.
Earlier this week, the Bears resodded Soldier Field with Bermuda grass, changing the outdated Kentucky bluegrass.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus stated the change was within the works for a while, although it wasn’t applied till after Soldier Field hosted German steel band Rammstein’s live performance Saturday.
The change comes after subject circumstances have been so dangerous in the course of the preseason recreation in opposition to the Kansas City Chiefs on Aug. 13 that they drew the eye of NFL Players Association President JC Tretter, who tweeted that the league and teams “clearly need to re-evaluate what is an acceptable surface for players to compete on.”
“We feel it’s going to be a nice surface,” Eberflus stated. “It’s going to be a fast surface, which I think lends to help us out. … We want a long, fast, athletic football team. So that lends to our advantage.”
Santos was sincere in regards to the subject circumstances in the course of the Family Fest observe on Aug. 9 and the Chiefs recreation, the one exhibition at Soldier Field this 12 months. He famous how he walked round earlier than the observe figuring out troublesome holes and stated he has needed to be cautious over time on lengthy kicks due to how the grass affected his plant foot.
“I’ve seen better,” he stated after the observe. “It’s just what we have to deal with.”
Now he’s hopeful the brand new grass can be stronger and trigger fewer issues.
“The Bermuda has always been a shorter grass. It’s not that long one, the crabgrass that it’s been in the past,” Santos stated. “You can see extra of the ball. The plant foot is tighter.
“The other one, the grass got ripped out too easily. They just came at halftime and put sand down. It just becomes a sandy field that they spray painted green. So (now) it becomes a surface that’s used in a lot of places.”
Bermuda grass is understood to be higher for hotter climates, however Soldier Field spokesman Luca Serra stated its success at colder-weather stadiums, together with in Kansas City and Baltimore, helped to sway stadium and Bears decision-makers, who used Carolina Green Corporation to sod.
Eberflus stated the Indianapolis Colts had Bermuda grass of their observe facility. Santos kicked on it in Kansas City, the place Bears common supervisor Ryan Poles spent his earlier 13 seasons.
“(The Chiefs) are in similar weather,” Santos stated. “They had a heating system underneath the field to keep it warm. So I’ve been familiar with that, and the Bermuda is a better grass to kick. It’s just in this cold, if you can grow it and protect it, then it’s a great thing.”
Soldier Field’s Kentucky bluegrass floor sometimes was resodded one to 3 occasions per season, and it is going to be a feeling-out course of for the Bears and Soldier Field crews how typically and when resodding can be executed this season.
Rye seed first is added because the climate will get colder so the grass turns into a little bit of a hybrid. A later winter would assist the Bermuda grass last more at Soldier Field, which additionally has a heating system to assist preserve the grass.
Serra stated Carolina Green took acres of grass and grew it on plastic trays, a tactic that helped strengthen the grass earlier than it was dropped at Chicago. Resodding lower than every week earlier than the opener is pretty typical, Serra stated, and the Bears have been happy with the way it turned out.
Santos stated he’ll try Friday the way it turned out. He isn’t the one Bears participant excited in regards to the change.
“I bring like five pairs of cleats every week, so maybe I can just stick to the one pair,” tight finish Cole Kmet stated. “I’m glad to hear we’re switching it up a little bit. And I think that will benefit the players for sure and in a safety sense as well.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com