As the 11-4 Chicago Bears prepare for their Sunday night matchup with the 11-4 San Francisco 49ers, one player earned an extra Christmas present from the league thanks to his impressive performance against the Green Bay Packers.

Kicker Cairo Santos was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, after making field goals of 46, 51, and 43 yards at in some of the toughest wind conditions he's ever seen at Soldier Field on Saturday.

"Gustiest I've ever seen. There's been stronger consistent winds, but when it's gusty like that, you can kick the same ball twice within 30 seconds and it's going to will react differently. So you just have to trust all your fundamentals," he said.

Santos is the fifth different Bears player this season to get NFC player of the week honors, alongside quarterback Caleb Williams (Week 3), special teams specialist Josh Blackwell (Week 4) tight end Colston Loveland (Week 9), and linebacker D'Marco Jackson (Week 15).

Santos has had some struggles, by his standards, this season, but special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said his "resilience" is one of the biggest reasons he's been so successful in the league for so long.

"For him just to have the mental fortitude to stay focused and play the conditions is what we talk about doing; not trying to beat the conditions, not being upset about the conditions, but play the conditions," he said.

Meantime, the Bears got some good news on the practice field on Wednesday, as wide receiver Luther Burden III and cornerback CJ Gardner-Johnson returned to practice after being held out on Tuesday.

 Both were officially limited on Wednesday, but it's a good sign that they could both be available Sunday night at San Francisco. Burden said it was tough sitting out against the Packers last week with an ankle injury, because it was the first game he's ever missed going all the way back to youth football.

Wide receiver Rome Odunze, return specialist Devin Duvernay, linebackers TJ Edwards and D'Marco Jackson, and cornerback Nick McCloud all didn't practice on Wednesday, so that will be something to monitor when the Bears return to the practice field on Friday after having Christmas day off.

CJ Gardner-Johnson and Luther Burden were back on the field after not practicing Tuesday. Burden says his injured ankle is good to after what was an extremely rare missed game for the rookie wideout.

Luther Burden ((I think these work together)) 15:06:40 – It was really missing first game EVER... different watching team from sideline / 15:08:10 Clinching playoffs is cool. Still got work to do. Bigger goal

Cairo

Hightower also praised Cairo's resilience amidst some struggles by his standards this season, again emphasizing how tough it can be to kick at Soldier Field. Covering the Bears at Halas Hall, Matt Zahn, CBS News Chicago.