I had a bunch of things to do yesterday, so I Tivo’d the Bears-Saints game and didn’t end up watching it until late at night. By the time I finished I was too tired to write a post about it, which is why I’m just getting around to it now.
Anyway, the Bears won 33-25 to finish out the season at 7-9. More importantly, they won two games in a row for the first time all year, and will have at least a couple of positives to take into the offseason with them.
The player of the game was Devin Hester yet again. This guy is simply ridiculous in terms of how skilled he is on kick and punt returns. Saints head coach Sean Payton said beforehand that he planned on staying away from Hester, but I guess punter Steve Weatherford didn’t get that memo. In the 3rd quarter, he punted directly at Hester, who answered by cutting through the Saints’ coverage and scampering 64-yards for a TD.
That was Hester’s 11th career kick/punt return TD (which doesn’t count his Super Bowl score or the missed FG he returned for a TD last season). He now needs just 2 more to tie the all-time NFL record of 13 special teams TDs set by Brian Mitchell. Difference is, Mitchell took something like 233 games to get his record, while Hester has racked up his TDs in 32 games.
Plus, you have to remember that most of the time, teams aren’t even bothering to kick to Hester anymore. He rarely gets any real chances to run one back, and this trend is probably going to continue into next season as well.
Anyway, getting back to the game: The defense looked pretty good even though they gave up 25 points. They got a safety in there, sacked Brees three times, recovered a fumble, and had two interceptions. Not bad at all.
The offense looked decent at times, especially when Orton connected with Hester for a 55-yard score. But again, there were a lot of squandered opportunities, Orton missed several wide-open receivers, and the O-line had too many penalties.
Take away Hester’s 2 TDs and the Bears lose again. Lots of other guys on this team better step up next year, or they’re going to miss the playoffs again.
It’s going to be a loooong offseason. Hopefully the Bears address a few of their needs in the draft and come back strong in ‘08!
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)