An unexpected hit jolts Bears' Hester

The kicker is usually the last line of defense.

Instead, Josh Brown was the first man to reach Devin Hester on a third-quarter kickoff return. Seattle's kicker was unaccounted for and unimpeded before he unloaded a hit that put the NFL's most feared kick returner flat on his back.

It caught almost everyone off guard. Especially Hester.

"I know he was very surprised," Brown said.

Not safety Deon Grant, though.

"I expect that," Grant said.

Really? Out of a kicker?

"No, not out of a kicker," Grant said. "Out of Josh."

Brown was a star in high school when he played eight-man football in Oklahoma. That's when he won the state high-jump title, too. He even practiced some at wide receiver and at safety early in college at Nebraska, so he has had some practice putting a shoulder into an opponent.

Linebacker Kevin Bentley called Brown's stop a perfect-form tackle. Lofa Tatupu said that if Brown swung his arm a little more he would have forced a fumble. Coach Mike Holmgren had a little bit of a smirk and said he hoped his kicker doesn't have to make too many of those tackles.

Kickers usually can't be counted on to perform like anything beyond a speed bump. That was the case for Chicago in the third quarter when Robbie Gould's biggest contribution to stopping Nate Burleson was getting run over on a kick return. Burleson had to slow down just a little to trample Gould, which allowed him to be tackled at midfield.

Holmgren called Hester one of the best kick returners he has ever seen in the NFL, and last week said the goal would be keeping the ball out of his hands. And up until the third quarter that's what Seattle tried to do.

The Seahawks kicked off short to start the game and Garrett Wolfe returned the ball to midfield. They squibbed it later in the first quarter, and the ball bounced all the way to Hester, who ran 29 yards. Ryan Plackemeier expertly angled one punt out of bounds and hung another one up in the air.

But after Seattle scored a touchdown on its first possession of the second half to take a 24-17 lead, the Seahawks kicked it deep to Hester for the first time all day.

"The guys wanted to do it because we felt like we were giving up way too much field position trying to kick short and kick on the ground and kick this way and kick that way," Brown said. "We're a good special-teams unit."

Hester returned four kickoffs Sunday for an average of 29 yards. When the Seahawks finally kicked the ball deep to Hester and Brown tackled him at the 27-yard line, it was Chicago's worst starting position after a kickoff during the game. That wasn't the only reason Brown celebrated his hit, though.

"It was Devin Hester," Brown said. "Are you kidding me? It was just cool."

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com