Bears coaches empathize with ‘remorseful’ Walker after mistakes

Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower generally hadn’t been satisfied with his unit’s overall play this season, missing some opportunities for bigger returns or game-changing field goals and having lapses in coverage and blocking that affected field position.

But it’s hard to quibble with the unit’s overall body of work Sunday during the Bears’ 31-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons, which yielded two fumble recoveries that directly led to 10 points.

Coaches had recently challenged the specialists to tighten up all aspects of their game, and Hightower said Monday that their response was “unbelievable.”

“They believe in what we’re selling, they believe in the program and they deserve a ton of credit,” he said. “And those players did a phenomenal job bouncing back.”

Hightower had more to say about some of his players’ highlights, and he also addressed a couple of big mistakes by Jahdae Walker.

1. Jahdae Walker was ‘remorseful’ about an ejection and roughing penalty.

As much as Hightower harps about field position, two penalties on Walker cost the Bears a total of 30 yards.

Walker stretched out to try to block a punt but ran into Falcons punter Jake Bailey on fourth-and-11 in the third quarter, drawing a 15-yard penalty. But the bigger transgression was his disqualification for headbutting the Falcons’ Chris Blair after the Bears’ coverage of Brian Robinson Jr.’s kickoff return.

“He’s a passionate player,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said Monday during his weekly radio appearance on WMVP-AM 1000. “We love that about him. He’ll learn from that and he felt terrible, just seeing the look in his eye after the game.

“So he’ll learn from it. He’ll grow. And we’re happy he’s one of us, man. He brings a lot of juice and energy every single game. So we love him.”

Hightower was similarly empathetic while addressing the issue with reporters Monday.

“I can just tell you when I got to the locker room — because obviously he had to go to the locker room — he was damn near in tears,” Hightower said. “He was very remorseful because he knew what he did affected the team and it hurt the team.”

Hightower said Walker plays with passion, but a momentary lack of control wiped out a good play by a fellow specialist.

“An unfortunate part about that (penalty) is (defensive end Daniel) Hardy makes a tackle at the 19-yard line, and it’s a hell of a special teams kickoff-coverage play,” Hightower said. “Then we have to tack on the personal foul, so now they get a drive (starting at the) 34-yard line.

“So we’ve just got to be better going forward with that, and he knows he has to be better in that case.”

Hightower took less issue with the earlier flag for roughing Bailey. He refuses to fault Walker for aggressiveness.

“That one’s a technique issue,” Hightower said. “He didn’t use the technique that we would like to see him use. You never really want to leave your feet there. … When you leave your feet and you lose control of your body, then usually you can run into the plant leg. And what happens is what you guys saw happen there.”

Had Walker run into another part of Bailey’s body other than the plant leg and been flagged for running into the kicker instead of roughing, the 5-yard penalty wouldn’t have been enough for a first down.

The 15-yard penalty helped the Falcons extend the drive to the Bears 28-yard line, but they couldn’t convert the gift into points and turned the ball over on downs.

“Credit to the defense, they stood up, no-blink mentality, and they had his back,” Hightower said. “They had Jahdae’s back there.”

2. Tory Taylor’s ‘banana ball’ caused a slip-up.

During a September appearance on quarterback Case Keenum’s podcast, Taylor explained the “banana ball” technique used by fellow punters to throw returners a curveball.

“It’s a tricky one for the returners,” Taylor told Keenum. “When you hit the ball (a certain way), it spins sideways like a banana, like it’s shaped like a banana.”

Taylor used the technique on the punt that Falcons rookie returner Zachariah Branch muffed and that Josh Blackwell recovered at the Atlanta 10. The Bears scored a touchdown three plays later to take a 14-point lead.

Blackwell, knowing Taylor’s plan, said his mission was to simply “get down there (and) wait to see what happens.”

“Blackwell was flying on the play,” Hightower said. “He was the fastest on the grass yesterday. … I think he hit 21 miles an hour, so he was rolling.

“Tory hit an unbelievable banana ball, which Blackwell already confirmed. So that was one unbelievable ball by Tory, and I saw the unit just make plays for the team.”

3. Daniel Hardy stepped into a bigger role.

By Pro Football Reference’s unofficial snap count, Hardy’s 34 defensive snaps and 61.8% playing percentage on defense were far and away career highs.

The special teams mainstay and defensive end played his previous high of 14 defensive snaps twice: Oct. 26, 2025, for the Bears and Dec. 25, 2022, for the Los Angeles Rams.

Hardy made hay with his opportunity Sunday in Atlanta, strip-sacking Michael Penix Jr. for a 10-yard loss in the second quarter — his first sack of the season — and breaking up a third-down pass to Kyle Pitts Sr. in the first quarter.

“I’m so proud of Daniel Hardy and where he’s come,” Hightower said. “Two years ago, you wouldn’t even think that this guy was going to be active. He’s a practice squad guy, you know. The maturation process and development to one of our leaders — he along with Blackwell, all of those guys.

“Blackwell was at home, Buford, Georgia, making those plays in front of … four high school coaches there that had never seen him play. Great moment for him. Great moment for Hardy, getting sacks.”