Given the chance, Devin Hester does it all for Bears

It seems like football coaches have been trying to figure out exactly what to do with Devin Hester since the days when the throwback uniforms the Bears wore Sunday were their regular outfits.

Should he play offense? Defense? Both? Kick return? Punt return? Both? Wildcat quarterback? Wide receiver or running back? What should be his football major? How many minors can he have?

These are eternal questions. They may never be answered in this life.

But if the Bears could duplicate how they used Hester in Sunday's 27-13 victory over the Vikings, that would be a fine place to start.

As a wide receiver, Hester caught four passes for 38 yards and a touchdown. As a returner, he brought back two punts, including a 42-yarder, and two kickoffs, including a 68-yarder. He had 185 all-purpose yards.

Hester gave the Bears a shorter field, which is to say he slanted it. Thanks mostly to Hester, the average Bears' drive began on their own 44. That gave the Bears' offense a head start of 14 yards on the Vikings' offense on average.

"The guy is awesome, the best ever," Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said.

The surprise was that Hester was returning kicks. He had not brought back a kick since last January when Danieal Manning was injured, and he had not been asked to return kicks in 22 of the Bears' last 24 games. The last time he had a kick return as long as his 68-yarder Sunday was more than three years ago when he scored on an 88-yard return against Jay Cutler's Broncos.

He was jacked about returning kicks — and his teammates were juiced about it too.

"At one point I really tried to focus on receiver," Hester said. "I felt like I had the return game mastered down and I wanted to really focus on receiver. Now I'm feeling a little more comfortable at receiver, I can start back focusing on returns as well, maybe give me a chance to study them both."

Since Hester scored on two punt returns over four games, opponents have been punting away from him. And opponents also have tried to deny him the ball on offense by rolling a safety his way.

But it's difficult to deny him the ball on kickoffs.

"We're trying to get Devin the ball on the offensive side, but putting him back there as a single returner, you'll know he'll get an opportunity to make some plays on that," coach Lovie Smith said.

And so in the third quarter, Hester fielded a kick in the end zone from Ryan Longwell. He credited special teams coach Dave Toub for sending 10 blockers one way, which cleared the way for Hester to run 68-yards the other way.

The next time Hester touched the ball was on a perfect punt on the sidelines by Chris Kluwe. Hester fielded it at the 21, and appeared pinned in. He ran straight up the sideline for 42 yards on what was a very unlikely return.

"I have to give all the credit to my team," Hester said of the play. "When you get a ball punted like that pinned to the sideline, it's really rare you can come out like that. They put out great blocks and let me squeeze in some holes."

It's nice that Hester wants to credit his blockers, and they deserve credit. But it's not like J'Marcus Webb could have brought it back 42 yards behind that blocking. The Vikings had not allowed a punt return longer than 9 yards all season.

Hester is arguably the greatest return man in history. With one more return touchdown, he will have more than anyone.

All of which points to the very logical conclusion that he should be returning anything he can as often as he can. Even if it means contributing less to the offense. The only issues are if he can handle the extra mental responsibilities and physical demands.

Hester doesn't seem to mind playing fewer and fewer snaps at receiver. He talked about the value of keeping all the receivers fresh. And he also acknowledged he was lobbying to return kicks.

"I just like being out there with the ball in my hands," he said. "I feel I can do great things with the talent God blessed me with, anyway I can. Kickoff returns are another opportunity."

If Hester keeps playing the way he did Sunday, he can do whatever he wants — return kicks, rush the passer in sub packages, be in charge of coaches' challenges, or even set the draft board.

He might even be able to succeed the guy with the big office at City Hall.

Ridiculous, you say? Absolutely.

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(chicagotribune.com)