To be successful, Bears don't need Devin Hester to be a No. 1 receiver

We have approached this whole Devin Hester thing all wrong.

We measure everything Hester does against the high standard the Bears have set for him, the one reinforced on the first day of training camp when coach Lovie Smith reiterated, "Devin can be a No. 1 receiver in this league."

Physically, maybe that's true. But announcing such lofty expectations obscured the fact that Hester doesn't have to be a No. 1 receiver for him to still play a major, valuable role in the Bears' offense. Expecting Hester to do for the Bears what Steve Smith does for the Panthers, to use just one example often mentioned at Halas Hall, just isn't realistic or fair to Hester.

Furthermore, the Bears no longer need Hester to be a so-called No. 1 receiver the way they might have when this experiment began at the beginning of the 2008 season. So much has dramatically changed about the Bears' offense, yet the rhetoric about Hester hasn't. But it should, immediately, for Hester's own good.

He is a deep threat, an exceptional one at that, and the Bears continuing to force this No. 1 receiver notion only will make Hester's contributions suffer in comparison. He caught two passes for 14 yards in Saturday's 17-3 exhibition win over the Giants and the Bears' passing offense never has looked more potentially dangerous.

So far the focus after every preseason game, in regards to Hester, has been on what he hasn't done. Against Buffalo, he didn't go after an interception aggressively enough. Against the Giants, he cut inside when Jay Cutler threw outside and then couldn't catch up to a deep pass Cutler overthrew that would have been a 91-yard TD.

"We'll get that eventually," Hester said with a smile. "We're making progress."

Scrutinizing every step of that progress is understandable because of what the Bears have told us about Hester and the implied promise about that optimism. He even has a complex contract structured to reward his accomplishments as a receiver more than as the elite return man he is.

One day, Hester may develop into that 85-catch, 1,200-yard receiver that accompanies the No. 1-receiver tag. But, objectively, that day does not look close. Nor does it have to be this season now that Cutler is their quarterback.

The Bears just don't need Hester to be the focal point of their passing game, and the more they try to push that issue the sorrier they will be. They don't need Hester to catch more than 60 passes in 2009. They don't really need a No. 1 wide receiver at all if Hester and Earl Bennett put up numbers usually associated with complementary receivers -- numbers Hester is more than capable of producing.

Yes, he and Cutler have a ways to go to establish a better rapport. But even if Hester continues to zig while Cutler zags, the threat of Hester's speed stretches the field in a way that helps every running play or underneath pass route.

Tight end Greg Olsen, based on observations during training camp, will be Cutler's primary target in the Bears' passing game. Running back Matt Forte looks ready for an even bigger season because defenses no longer can stack the box. Cutler, if you haven't noticed, will make Hester and every other receiver better due to mobility that makes it easier for them to get open.

Those new realities make designations unnecessary for Bears wide receivers. The Bears don't have a Terrell Owens- or Randy Moss-type, so the committee approach makes more sense for a quarterback as gifted as Cutler in finding the open man.

"Every single [receiver] is raising their game," Cutler said.

Indeed, no Bears player has improved more than Bennett. Brandon Rideau and Devin Aromashodu have earned Cutler's confidence. The group that needed to show up Saturday finally did.

"We receivers put a lot of pressure on ourselves in the first preseason game to make plays that we didn't make and are capable of making," Hester said.

No receiver has been under more of that pressure than Hester. Once people stop worrying about how close Hester is to being a No. 1 receiver, the sooner he will start being appreciated more for what he is instead of isn't.



(chicagotribune.com)