Nov 6th 2008 10:18AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Bears
Everyone knows that Bears return man Devin Hester is struggling this season. The man who looked in his first two years like he was on his way to being the greatest returner in NFL history doesn’t have a touchdown this season.

But Hester’s performance is, I think, worse than most people realize. It’s not just that he doesn’t have a touchdown, it’s that he’s not even coming close: He has only one kickoff return longer than 40 yards, and no punt returns longer than 40.

The advanced stats at FootballOutsiders.com show that if the Bears just had a league average return man — let alone a superstar, which is what everyone thought they had — they would have picked up about four more points’ worth of extra field position than Hester has given them this season. Last year, the field position Hester gave the Bears was worth about 32 more points than an average return man would have given them.Continue Reading