Sauerbrun: Just an extremely bad day
Parked on the Soldier Field grass, Devin Hester more than welcomed a Denver boot.
The Broncos confidently thought they could lock up the man who no doubt is on the "most wanted" list of every team on the Bears' schedule.
Denver booted to the Bears' dangerous return man throughout the first half Sunday and successfully kept him from wiggling free.
"I think you saw in the first half that we did a pretty good job, relative to special teams," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "(But) sometimes you don't kick it as far and all of a sudden you give him a little edge and he's able to take it the distance."
Twice.
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Hester returned a Todd Sauerbrun punt 75 yards for a touchdown early in the second half, helping the Bears pull even at 13-13.
Late in the third quarter, after the Broncos manufactured a 10-play, 84-yard drive to go ahead 20-13, Hester got the score back on 1 play, busting off an 88-yard return to tie the score again.
"He took over the game," ex-Bear Sauerbrun said after the Bears prevailed 37-34 in overtime. "We broke down, and he capitalized on it."
Sauerbrun reluctantly acknowledged that the best strategy against Hester might just be to check the bravado at the stadium door and kick the ball out of bounds.
"Not many people like to do that," Sauerbrun said. I sure as (heck) don't. It definitely shouldn't have happened as bad as it did today. Today was just an extremely bad day."
Shanahan told reporters earlier in the week that Hester is the best returner he has ever seen. But that didn't stop the Broncos from kicking the ball to the second-year player, who has returned 3 punts and 2 kickoffs for TDs this season alone. Hester set an NFL record by returning 6 kicks for touchdowns last season.
"Devin did an awesome job," Sauerbrun said. "He won the game for the Bears today. The Bears can thank him. It was our fault. We let him loose."
Sauerbrun had an opportunity to take Hester down on the 75-yard punt return but slipped on the wet grass around the 30 and Hester easily hurdled him en route to the end zone.
"I did (have a chance to tackle him), but that field is slippery as (heck)," Sauerbrun said. "You give him that much room between us, and I don't really have a chance. You just got to poke and hope -- mostly hope."
"I don't think the league has ever seen anything like this guy," said Broncos safety John Lynch, a 15-year veteran. "I've seen some great returners, but nothing like this guy."