Thread: Peppers had 3 sacks

Originally Posted by chisportsfan

Agree that a better throw would have been an easy TD. That being said, a real #1 WR would have made that catch. Hester had the ball in his hands. I clearly think most of the "blame" goes to the throw, but Hester shares in some of that too. I'm not digging on Hester as a WR, nor am I suggesting he shouldn't be on the field. I think the Bears did the right thing by figuring out a way to get the ball in his hands more, but he is NOT a #1. I can't remember who, but someone else made the point about Hester being good when he can face the QB during the catch and that the over the shoulder/adjustment catches continue to give him problems. I have to agree with that as well. I hope Devin continues to improve as a WR because the man is flat dangerous with the ball.

The right to do with Hester is still to make him that full time return man and play just "some" plays on offense like they did in 2007 and are doing again this year (although he is still playing more offense then 2007). You can see the effect he has a full time returner, that extra step makes a difference and he clearly changes games. Teams fear him on ST's. I liked Manning on KR's but the more I see Hester back there now, the fear level is so much higher and you can't kick out of bounds to avoid him. Hester can probably win 2-3 games a season on ST's alone like he did in 2006/2007, and in a 16 game season thats huge. He's also proven that he can take punts right "at" the sideline and still make big plays, which is going to start forcing punters to shank it further out of bounds (which they don't want to do) which will end up leading to huge field position advantages. It's why the Bears are #1 in the league again in field position.