Quite a block party

Bears special teams: You … are … ridiculous.

Even on a Sunday when Mr. Ridiculous, Devin Hester, touched the football just twice, assistant coach Dave Toub's special teams showed again why they're simply special, probably the best collectively in the NFL.

While Green Bay's Jon Ryan struggled all game to catch and punt on a brutal Windy City day on the lakefront, Bears punter Brad Maynard and kicker Robbie Gould had no apparent problems executing in the extreme weather conditions.

"In pregame it was brutal," Toub said. "We were only good (on field-goal attempts) from like the 25-yard line. So we knew it was going to be a tough day."

It was indeed a tough day -- for Ryan, who might have been safer punting on the Dan Ryan.

He dropped the snap on his first punt attempt, picked it up and was swallowed by special-teams Pro Bowler Brendon Ayanbadejo.

Then on Ryan's second punt try, Darrell McClover swooped in for the block. Ayanbadejo recovered at the Green Bay 7.

"We just saw (the weather conditions) as an opportunity for us to rush the punter," said McClover, a fourth-year backup linebacker/special-teamer out of Miami. "The wind was blowing really hard and we knew they weren't going to get a good punt off.

"It was just a simple block routine. I came free and ended up making the play. It was a great play. It set up the offense, put them in good scoring position. That's all we're out there to do, to help out the offense any way possible to score."

While the offense couldn't capitalize on McClover's second-quarter blocked punt, as Muhsin Muhammad dropped a pass in the end zone on fourth down, the block party wasn't over.

With the Bears leading 21-7 in third quarter, Charles Tillman flew in untouched and blocked Ryan's punt. Corey Graham scooped the ball up at the Packers' 7 and scored easily.

It was the first blocked punt returned for a touchdown by the Bears since Anthony Marshall against Tampa Bay in 1995, the same year the Packers last had a punt blocked (929 punts ago).

"We knew that it was going to be tough for them to snap and catch and get the hold and stuff," said Graham, the rookie cornerback out of New Hampshire who was the second of the Bears' two fifth-round draft picks in April. "We knew we were going to blitz them and things like that. We weren't planning on doing a lot of return game."

Tillman's blocked punt, his second this season, was the 12th blocked or deflected kick by the Bears in Toub's four years as special-teams coordinator.

"We've got a great corps, led by Brendon Ayanbadejo," Toub said. "And then a guy like Charles Tillman comes in in spots for us and he's able to make a great play like he did."

While Maynard didn't bobble any snaps from center Patrick Mannelly and got off 4 punts cleanly, Gould kicked field goals of 31 and 35 yards. His 30 field goals are 2 shy of the franchise record he set last season.

"It was probably the toughest day we've had out there," Gould said. "But your job is to go out there and make field goals, and I'm fortunate enough to have Pat and Brad who have done very well in situations like this.

"(It helps) to have that veteran experience just to calm me down and say, 'Hey, just do what you do,' and the guys up front have been blocking their butts off. Thanks to them I'm having a lot of success."