Hester goes on the offensive

Sunday's football game-turned-track meet at Soldier Field featured the Bears' newest weapon at wide receiver (finally) and the NFC North's newest weapon at running back.

One guy, modestly, just wants to prove he can play on Sundays.

"I'm Devin Hester; he's Adrian Peterson," Hester said of fellow game-breaker Peterson, not interested in comparing himself to the Minnesota Vikings' rookie who burned the Bears for 224 rushing yards and 3 long touchdowns.

"He's a great athlete," Hester added. "He's got a great future ahead of himself. I'm still trying to work on my future and hoping that it'll come out to be successful."

Hester must be talking about his future as a wide receiver.

His 89-yard punt return in the first quarter, after all, was his 10th return of a kick for a touchdown.

He smoothly fielded punter Chris Kluwe's 54-yard bomb over his shoulder, set up his blocks, shook a tackler off his ankle and was off. He's returned 2 punts and 1 kickoff for scores this season.

"We've got great special teams," said Hester, whose rookie campaign last year featured an NFL-record 6 returns for TDs, plus 1 in the Super Bowl. "Day in and day out, guys lay it on the line and come up with great blocks."

Hester didn't need any blocks on his 81-yard touchdown reception from Brian Griese with 1:38 left in the fourth quarter. His second career catch -- he had a 3-yard grab earlier this season -- tied the score at 31-31, before the Vikings won it on Ryan Longwell's 55-yard field goal as time expired.

Lined up wide, Hester sped past strong safety Dwight Smith down the right sideline and caught Griese's throw in-stride over his shoulder.

"It was just a little pump-and-go," Hester said. "He (Smith) settled his feet and gave me an opportunity to get past him."

"He ran a great route," Griese said. "I worked with him all week on the route and he did a great job.

"His speed allows him to do that, and thankfully this old guy still got the ball there to him. He has some special talents that I think we can continue to use."

For Bears fans who've been wanting to see more of Hester on offense, this was the reason why.

"Each week he's playing more and more, getting more comfortable," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "We've had him in that position before, this season and (Sunday). We actually had (the same play) called earlier in the game and we got a different coverage."

"Devin Hester does what he normally does -- keeps us in football games," coach Lovie Smith said. "It was good to see him get involved on the offensive side of the football."

Hester was just grateful for another opportunity to prove he can make something good happen on the field.

"Whenever your name is called to go out and make a play, you just got to be able to step up to the challenge," he said. "You step up to the challenge and show them that you're one of the guys that's capable of doing it. The more big things you do, the more opportunities you get."

He's going to get more of them.

"He played more (Sunday) than he did last week," Turner said. "He played more last week than he did the week before, and we'll continue to get him in there as much as we can."