Hester has no equal returning kickoffs

Even though Devin Hester hadn't been the Bears' primary kickoff returner since midway through the 2008 season, it was a pretty easy decision to put him back there last week.

The Bears are fortunate to have three legitimate home-run threats on their roster, but Hester's achievements stand alone.

Safety Danieal Manning took over the job in 2008 and wound up leading the NFL with a 29.7-yard average. When Manning got busy last year starting 10 games and also playing nickel back, wide receiver Johnny Knox stepped in as a rookie and finished second in the league with a 29.0-yard average. Manning started this season as No. 1 and then Knox got a shot, but both are playing big roles elsewhere this year.

“It's just a matter of how many touches (Hester) was getting on offense,” special teams coordinator Dave Toub said. “Johnny, the game before, didn't really come off the field at all. When Danieal was getting all the reps on defense, we had some long drives, and then he had to go on kickoff return. The next guy up was Johnny.

“So, we kept calling Johnny, but at the end of the next week we realized Johnny was playing every rep on offense and Devin was over there on the sideline. Here's the best guy maybe in the history of the game, and he's sitting on the sideline. So we said we need to get him in the game the next week. We just wanted to keep it on the low so they didn't know, and we brought it out for the Minnesota game.”

Hester should continue to return both kickoffs and punts tonight against the Dolphins in Miami.

Wounded knee: