Imrem: Let's not rewrite Hester's history, Bears fans

As the Bears prepare to play against Devin Hester on Sunday in Atlanta, he is the talk of the town up here.

For one thing, Bears' fans are debating what their favorite memory is of Hester in a Bears' uniform.

Mine is easy to recall.

When Hester returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLI, I had a look of awe while glancing along the press-box row behind me. On an aisle seat sat then-Bears' general manager Jerry Angelo, who had an equally awed expression as our wide eyes met.

It was as if to say, “Do you believe what just happened?”

Now people are asking, “Do you believe that Devin Hester is returning kicks for the Falcons instead of the Bears?”

Please, though, let's not take this opportunity to participate in revisionist history.

Nathan Hale didn't say, “I only regret that I have but one wife to lose for my country.” Patrick Henry didn't say, “Give me liberty or give me pizza.” Vince Lombardi didn't say, “Winning isn't everything, a new Cadillac is.”

Nor did Bears' fans say after last season, “Oh no, they're letting Devin Hester get away.”

OK, maybe some did. Those are the ones who recognized that the Bears' personnel department wasn't capable of replacing Hester.

But most fans and members of the media had been complaining for a while that Hester wasn't playing like Hester anymore.

Fans moaned that Hester was making bad decisions on punt returns. The media pointed out that new NFL rules neutered him on kickoff returns. All were still frustrated that the Bears ever tried to make him a wide receiver.

Many, maybe most, sensed and expressed out loud that it was time to thank Hester for his contributions and wave goodbye.

Hester wasn't happy here anymore anyway. He had become moodier than he had been. The firing of head coach Lovie Smith bothered him.

Stuff happens in the NFL. The salary cap forces teams to divorce good players every year. The Bears had so many holes to fill that they needed Hester's pay slot.

“Chicago didn't offer me anything,” Hester said on a conference call Wednesday. “They didn't offer me no contract. They didn't call me or nothing. So I didn't hear from Chicago.”

As things turned out, it sure looks this week that it was a mistake to make Hester available for Atlanta to sign as a free agent.

Earlier this season Hester returned a punt to break the NFL record for most career return touchdowns. He also is producing as a receiver, even scoring a TD on an end around.

Meanwhile, the Bears don't have a competent kick returner or speed receiver.

The problem isn't that the Bears decided Hester was expendable after eight seasons.

It's that they haven't found a reasonable facsimile, raising this week's primary question: Would Hester have filled those gaps at returner and receiver if the Bears re-signed him?

The answer is more complicated than it seems.

Even a new contract might not have made a revitalized Hester as happy here as he is in Atlanta, where he plays home games on the speedier artificial turf, has mutual respect with his quarterback and has coaches who utilize his athletic gifts on offense.

Oh, and maybe fans down there aren't unfairly whispering, sometimes loudly, as Bears' fans did that Hester isn't intelligent enough to learn the offense.

Because Hester wasn't articulate in media interviews, too many people up here translated that into him not being very smart.

That false impression was just one more reason that so many Bears' fans weren't all that upset that Hester was leaving town.

Now they miss Devin Hester and can only hope he doesn't return Sunday's opening kickoff for a touchdown.

mimrem@dailyherald.com