Bears' Devin Hester: 'I want to add about ... 15 more (TD) returns'

Chicago Bears kick returner Devin Hester -- who set the NFL record for career kick and punt returns for touchdowns this season with 14 -- said in a radio interview that he hopes to add many more return TDs to his resume.

In an interview with ESPN Chicago (courtesty of SportsRadioInterviews), Hester said that though he only thinks he'll play another five or six years in the league, he wants to add "at least 15 more returns (for touchdowns)" to his NFL-record total.

"You know when all my days are up I'm hoping to add 5 or 6 more," Hester said.

The host interrupted, saying "That's it? I have that penciled in for next season."

Hester continued: "You know the game is pretty brutal. I'm starting to have kids and I want to be able to kind of play around with them when they get old enough. I don't think I can take a lot of hits. I'm looking forward to about 5-6 more years on my contract to play this game and you know like you say, 'This year…coming into this season we have 5 down and then'… I want to add about when it's all said and done at least 15 more returns."

If there's someone who can do it, Hester is probably the man. Hester's 14 return touchdowns (10 punt, 4 kickoff) have come in just 73 career games, while the man's record he broke -- Brian Mitchell -- took 223 games to amass his 13 return touchdowns.

Hester was also asked about the criticism that Bears QB Jay Cutler faced after he was taken out of the NFC Championship game against the Packers. Hester said if you want to blame someone, blame the team doctors who held him out, not Cutler.

"It's tough, you know, nobody really doesn't know how painful that situation was for him (Cutler). With the knee injury you have minor sprain or you can have a real bad sprain, so you can't, you know, predict how painful it was. It's tough. Only the person can tell. That is the person it happened to, so like I say I think he wanted to go, but the doctors forced him out so … anybody that they [the media] need to point the finger to should be the doctor in question. He (Cutler) shouldn't get all the criticism."

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(usatoday.com)
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