Hester eager for opportunity against Raiders

Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski leads the NFL with 18 touchbacks on kickoffs, but unless he kicks the ball completely out of the end zone Sunday against the Bears, there's a good chance Devin Hester will return it.

"Devin has the green light most times he's on the football field," coach Lovie Smith said. "We do realize what type of kicker we're going against. Unless it's maybe 9 yards deep, 9½ yards, 9¾ yards, maybe, he probably will bring it out."

Hester is fine with that. With most opponents committed to keeping the ball away from him, he's had just 1 kickoff-return opportunity in the last two games and 5 in the last four games. Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said earlier in the week that he would challenge Hester and the Bears' punt- and kickoff-return teams.

"It's just going to give us an opportunity on special teams to do what we do best, and we (count) on our special teams helping us out a lot," Hester said. "We're looking forward to the challenge. That makes you more determined to go out and prove that we're not a team you can mess with on special teams."

Hester is well aware that the Chargers' Antonio Cromartie's 109-yard return of a missed field goal last week eclipsed the NFL record of 108 yards that he and teammate Nate Vasher shared. That might give the NFL's punt-return leader added incentive to bring out even a really deep kickoff.

"Some games you get the heads up to go ahead," Hester said, "and some games you don't."

But, if it's up to Hester, which it usually is, will he bring it out?

"If it's up to me?" he said. "Yeah."

Under the radar: Hunter Hillenmeyer, the only starting linebacker these days who speaks to the local media in full sentences, said it doesn't matter if the 3-5 Bears have already been written off.

"We don't really care," Hillenmeyer said. "Everybody in this locker room's mentality is going to stay the same. That year we went 11-5 (2005), we kind of started out slow. I don't think anybody gave us a chance that year until we were two or three games from the end of the season. So, if people want to count us out, that's great; maybe we'll just sneak up on some people."

After a 1-3 start in '05, the Bears reeled off eight straight wins.

Starting over: The Bears' offense has yet to score an offensive touchdown in the first quarter this season and has only 1 first-quarter field goal, a problem it had two weeks to work on since the Week 8 loss to the Lions. In that game, they had just 42 yards of total offense in the first quarter on 13 plays.

"I think it's an attitude," quarterback Brian Griese said. "You come out and you've done your homework, you've prepared yourself, and you know what situations you want to take advantage of. The beginning of games, you have to weather the storm sometimes. You may get new looks, you may get different defenses. But at the same time the defense has to prepare for your new looks as well. I think if you prepare well, you should be able to be effective early in games."

Injury update: Cornerback Nate Vasher (groin), safety Brandon McGowan (elbow) and linebacker Rod Wilson (neck) did not practice Friday, were listed as "doubtful" on the injury report and are not expected to play Sunday. Defensive tackle Tommie Harris went through a full practice and is expected to start.