LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -Danieal Manning is getting plenty of attention lately.
Whether he’s breaking off long kickoff returns or returning interceptions for touchdowns, Manning is having a big impact for the Chicago Bears just when they need it.
“We’re winning,” Manning said. “That’s the goal.”
With back-to-back wins, the Bears will try to make it three in a row for the first time since the 2006 Super Bowl season when they host Green Bay on Monday night.
Even so, their odds at a playoff berth are thin.
The only way the Bears (8-6) can win the NFC North is by beating the Packers and Texans and having Minnesota lose its final two games. The odds of a wild-card berth are even slimmer.
Yet, the Bears still maintain hope. They say they won’t go quietly, which is exactly what Manning refuses to do.
Manning has a 29.5-yard average on 26 kickoff returns, and he’s making a mark on defense, too.
tone in a 23-10 win over Jacksonville two weeks ago by returning an interception 42 yards on the opening drive to set up a touchdown and added a 52-yard kickoff return. And he came up big again in Thursday’s 27-24 overtime victory over New Orleans.
As he did in the previous game, Manning wasted no time making an impact. This time, he ran back the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown, pointing at the Saints as he crossed midfield, and set up another TD with a 52-yard return.
If he seems a little more relaxed these days, well, there’s a reason. He found his niche.
On special teams, he’s performing a good impression of Devin Hester circa 2006-07, and he seems to have settled in on defense at nickelback.
“It’s been rough for a second there,” he said.
A second-round draft pick out of Abilene Christian in 2006, Manning played mostly free safety and some cornerback his first two seasons but got moved around because of his own inconsistency. Gifted athletically, he at times had trouble grasping the mental aspects of his position, but spending two games on the sideline with a hamstring injury in midseason allowed him to get a better understanding of his role.
A talk with the coaches helped, too.
re and be a safety.”
Coach Lovie Smith said the fact that Manning has played several positions says “a lot about what we think of him.”
“Your role will change at times. Danieal has accepted every one, but now he’s locked in at the nickel position,” Smith said.
As for Manning’s contributions on special teams, the Bears are used to getting long kickoff returns – they’re just coming from someone other than Hester.
Hester returned 11 punts or kickoffs for touchdowns to move within two of the NFL record his first two seasons but has been stuck on that number all season. Fair or not, critics say the Bears are to blame, that they managed to turn a special player into an average receiver when they decided to give him a bigger role on offense to go with a four-year contract extension.
Either way, Hester hasn’t been the same this season.
While struggling on offense, Hester’s contributions on special teams diminished.
The burst wasn’t there. He seemed hesitant, running from side to side and even backward, unable to break through.
The Bears finally gave the primary kickoff return duties to Manning late in a 37-3 loss at Green Bay last month, with Hester still handling punts. He’s still struggling in that area, with two for minus-two yards against New Orleans last week.
the Bears to handle Hester’s decline.
Six times, he has returned kickoffs for 40 or more yards – two off the league lead – and he’s done it five times in the past four games. He’s finding room to roam, dodging the crowd, and he sees a link between his success returning kickoffs and his performance on defense.
“In nickel and kick returns, you’ve got to have instincts,” Manning said. “Sometimes you’ve got to set things up, jump a route one way and turn around, face (the quarterback) and go another way. Same thing in returning. You’ve got to be able to set some defenders up and set your blocks up.”
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