Devin spent? Age might become an issue for Bears’ Hester

On his 30th birthday, Devin Hester was one block and eight yards from the 20th kick-return touchdown of his career in the Bears’ ­51-20 rout of the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 4 in Nashville.

Two weeks later, he was literally running in circles against the San Francisco 49ers, with a net of ­minus-1 yard on three punt returns. It was another reminder of just how difficult it is to be as great as Hester has been — especially, in his line of work, after turning 30.

Hester is far from your average kick returner. He’s the best of all time — though on behalf of Bears fans of another generation, it can’t be ignored that the great Gale Sayers scored his eight kick-return touchdowns on just 118 attempts. His ratio of one touchdown for ­every 14.8 returns eclipses Hester’s still impressive 1:23.2.

Regardless of anyone’s greatness, it’s a young man’s gig. Sayers’ final kick-return touchdown came at 24. Hester’s three touchdowns last season, when he turned 29, is more remarkable than people realize.

The teamwork, the timing and the skill required to return kicks make every touchdown a celebrated event. But with each passing day, the challenge for Hester becomes a little more than having the moon and stars align to capture the necessary magic to break out of a slump.

At 30, Hester is the third-oldest full-time kick returner (punts and kickoffs) in the NFL behind the Detroit Lions’ Stefan Logan (31) and the Seattle Seahawks’ Leon Washington (30). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Roscoe Parrish (30) and the Denver Broncos’ Jim Leonhard (30) are the only other 30-somethings returning kicks.


(suntimes.com)