Bears foes denying further Hester heroics
It's fine with the Bears if their opponents wish to continue punting the ball out of bounds at midfield or kicking off out of bounds and automatically giving them the ball at the 40-yard line to avoid Devin Hester.
"We're OK with the field position," special teams coordinator Dave Toub said. "Our offense is starting to make them pay. They get the ball at midfield. We score a field goal or touchdown; we'll take it."
Bears opponents have kicked off out of bounds rather than incur the big-play threat of Hester three times already this season. No other team has had more than 1 kickoff booted out of bounds against them.
But even with teams avoiding Hester and kicking short to other players, the Bears still are fifth in the NFL with an average starting point of the 31.6-yard line after kickoffs.
The Bears actually have started with better field position on the nine occasions when teams kick away from Hester (34.4-yard line), than on the 19 times when opponents kicked to Hester (28.2-yard line).
Still, Toub and the Bears want to get the ball in Hester's hands on as many punts and kickoffs as possible, although the Lions won't make it easy for them today at Soldier Field (noon, Channel 32).
Four weeks ago, Hester raced through the Lions' coverage units for 314 return yards, the second-most prolific return game in NFL history.
Last week, the Eagles didn't allow Hester to touch the ball on punts or kickoffs.
"It's a little frustrating," Toub said. "During the week you have to practice returns, and we do that. (But) now we're practicing a lot of squibs and bloops and all kinds of crazy kicks and all kinds of situations. That's just the way it's going right now."
Toub has been inundated with advice on how to get the ball to Hester no matter how or where it's kicked.
"You name it, I'm hearing it," he said, "and from players, too. They want to see reverses, they want to see tricks, they want to see the ball flipped back to Devin, those types of things."
The most common suggestion has been to have up backs Adrian Peterson and Rashied Davis fire the ball back to Hester.
"That's a risky play," Toub said. "If there's (just a) little time left at the half or at the end of the game, that's something we would think about. But during the regular course of a game, it's too risky."
Hester's 19.2-yard punt-return average leads the NFL by a wide margin, while his kickoff-return average is a much more modest 23.6 yards, 20th in the NFL.
But it remains to be seen how many more opportunities he'll get to pad his total of 8 kick-return touchdowns, which is tied for seventh on the all-time list, even though he has played in just 23 games.
Of the top 15 on the list, the player with the next-fewest games played is former Bear Gale Sayers with 68. Hester also has a 108-yard TD return of a missed field goal.
He understands how his success has influenced the strategy of other teams.
"I don't think they're going to give me as many opportunities as they did," he said. "We look forward to them kicking to me, but I don't think I'm going to get many opportunities."
Hester was amused at Lions coach Rod Marinelli's half-joking plan to kick the ball into Lake Michigan.
"I heard he said that, and I was thinking about the baseball games (at San Francisco's AT&T Park) where they have guys out there in the boat waiting for the ball to land in the water," Hester said, grinning.
Kicking to Hester has become tantamount to pitching to Barry Bonds, so Hester was asked if he'd challenge the all-time home run leader if he were a pitcher.
"No," Hester said.
That's how Bears opponents are starting to feel about Hester, but he believes his chances will come eventually.
"You have to stay focused," he said. "Teams will eventually have to kick to us. They can't just keep giving us good field position. It's a great accomplishment to have teams fear our special teams.
"You can give it to us on the 40, or you can pitch to Barry Bonds."