Devin Hester to Make History in Miami?

The Chicago Bears' return specialist, Devin Hester, is currently tied for the most combined kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns, along with Washington Redskins' great, Brian Mitchell, at 13.

Playing in his home town of Miami, FL Thursday night, against the Dolphins, Hester may have a chance to break his current tie with Mitchell.
But, if you're keeping score, Hester's on-pace numbers not only best Mitchell's, but they put Hester in-line to blow virtually every recordable return statistic out of the metaphorical water.

While Mitchell also has 13 career returns for TD, that number is through 223 total games played. It took Hester just 69 total games to achieve that same number. To put that into perspective: If Hester stayed at his current pace throughout his career, he'd finish with approximately 42 career return TDs, to Mitchell's 13.

Now, let's be realistic, Hester won't achieve that. His numbers will - likely - steadily decrease when he does start to enter the tail-end of his career. But, to be fair, 13 is not even close to 42. Hester will be labeled THE all-time great return-man for many years to come.

Grant it, Hester already holds a few other fairly impressive records: Most kick return for TD in a single season (6), Most kick returns fro TD in Chicago Bears history and first return for TD on the opening kick of any Super Bowl in SB XLI.

But, all of those records have attached contingencies. If Hester goes the distance on Thursday night, that will be the mother of all records: The most EVER, period. And with plenty of time to build on that record, Hester has to be chomping at the bit.

After all, that opening return for TD he scored in Super Bowl XLI, well, I hardly doubt you forgot that game was also played in Miami, FL? He's comfortable. And he's downright dangerous.

But, all of this speculation is dependant on one thing above all else: Will the Dolphins even kick to Devin? "We'll see when we get to the game," Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano said. "The game plan is probably to try to sneak three or four extra (players) out there on the field against (Hester) and see if we can have any success."

That's it, I'm calling your bluff Sparano! There is not way in hell, given all the circumstances involved, that you kick a football to Devin Hester. Unless, of course, you want to loose your job.

Dolphins beat reporter for the Sun-Sentinel, Omar Kelly, had this to say about Hester: "Crazy people kick to (Devin) Hester. Would you kick to him?"

After the Bears recent win over the Vikings on Sunday, Hester put this on his Twitter page: "Great win today. One more step to the Super Bowl."
Devin may not come right out and say it, but he's very aware of his current personal-record status, and for him, Thursday night is home field advantage.

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(chicagonow.com)