Hester leads Bears to rout of Rams
ST. LOUIS – Devin Hester expects teams to keep on kicking deep to him. And he expects to keep right on returning those kicks to the end zone.
The high-stepping rookie got the Rams’ home dome rocking with chants of “Let’s Go Bears!” as he set an NFL record with his fifth and sixth returns for touchdowns this season, a 94-yard kickoff runback in the second quarter and a 96-yarder in the final period Monday night. That sparked a 42-27 victory that gave the NFC North champions (11-2) a bye for the first week of the playoffs.
“It’s the NFL and a team is not going to bow down to one player,” Hester said. “They’ll continue to kick to me.”
They’re fools if they do.
A second-round draft pick, Hester also has three punt return touchdowns and ran back a missed field goal 108 yards against the Giants to tie the longest play in NFL history. But he’d returned only six kickoffs all year before his historic romps that made the thousands of fans who trekked from Chicago rise from their seats.
“I almost thought we were back at Soldier Field,” coach Lovie Smith said.
Hester struggled to find a position in college at Miami, but he’s been a sensation with the ball in his hands on kick returns for the Bears.
“The story of the game is Devin Hester,” Smith said. “It’s time we start looking at him as an offensive player. There are a lot of good offensive rookies in the league making big plays, but who has had as much impact as Devin Hester has in the league as a rookie right now?”
Beleaguered quarterback Rex Grossman had a pretty good game and the Chicago running attack dominated the last two quarters.
Carrying a 14-13 lead into the second half, the Bears outgained the Rams (5-8) 191 yards to 31 in the third quarter. They scored on Thomas Jones’ 30-yard run and Muhsin Muhammad’s superb fingertip catch of a 14-yard pass from Grossman, who probably quieted calls for his benching – particularly from the thousands of fans who outshouted Rams rooters much of the game.
“They were all over the place tonight,” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “I could hear the crowd chanting ‘Bears, Bears, Bears.’ Man, that’s a warm feeling being away from home.”
Grossman was 6 of 19 for 34 yards in a win over Minnesota last week and had thrown six interceptions and no touchdowns in the last two games, but was 13 of 23 for 200 yards and two scores against St. Louis.
Chicago rushed for just 65 yards against the Rams’ porous run defense in the first half, then Jones gained 58 yards on the Bears’ first series of the second half.