Chicago Bears Are Using Infamous Play To Sell Special Teams
Offense and defense get most of the attention when it comes to football. Every player wants to be on the field immediately contributing to either. However, sometimes that isn’t possible. Most guys will be relegated to backup duty. That can be discouraging to many. It is not the end of the world. Several who started their careers out that way ended up becoming starters. They didn’t do it by simply waiting their turns, mind you. They forced coaches to take notice. How? By making an impression on special teams. That is what Chicago Bears coordinator Richard Hightower stresses to his young guys.
His job is to deploy quality coverage, returning, and kicking units. That said, it’s also his job to help groom boys into men so they can go onto those more prominent roles they desire. The challenge is selling them on such an idea. Not everybody did special teams work in college when they arrived in the NFL. In such situations, Hightower turns to a motivation tactic he’s seen work many times. He shows them the story of Terrell Davis. Most know him as a Hall of Fame running back now, but there was a time when he was nothing more than a nondescript rookie backup.
That changed on one play in 1995 during a preseason game in Tokyo, Japan.
“(He) was a sixth-round draft choice and went down, flew down and made a kickoff tackle and knocked the crap out of somebody, and they said, ‘Hey, let’s put him in on offense.’ Now he’s a Hall of Fame running back.”
The Chicago Bears have their own examples of special team heroes.
Shaun Gayle was an ace for them in the 1980s, delivering one of the more iconic plays in franchise history by returning a whiffed punt against the Giants for a touchdown in the 1985 divisional playoff. After a few years, he became a starter at safety and eventually made the Pro Bowl. Davis was a special case. Denver had been seeking a solution at running back that off-season. After the hit in Tokyo, head coach Mike Shanahan decided to give him some carries in the game. The running back looked tremendous and stole the starting job shortly after. He ran for 1,117 yards that season. The rest is history.
Hightower understands it can be frustrating not to play the position you were a star at in college. Sadly there are only so many open spots. The worst thing you can do is wallow in self-pity over it. Doing so will allow others to steal more than that from you. Special teams is a valued part of the game. Those who embrace show that they are willing to make the necessary sacrifices for the good of the organization. Such things never go unnoticed. The sooner guys learn that the sooner their opportunities will come.