Bears Division Champs, Hester Sets NFL Record
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Brett Favre's surprise return ended quickly and Devin Hester set an NFL record with his 14th career return for a touchdown, leading the Chicago Bears to a 40-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night at snowy TCF Bank Stadium.
Brett Favre was bundled up in a heavy gray coat by the time Devin Hester sped through the snow with his record-setting return.
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Favre's surprise start ended with another injury, perhaps putting him out for good, and the game ended with an NFC North title for the Chicago Bears.
Hester set the NFL record with his 14th kick return touchdown, running back a punt 64 yards for a score shortly after halftime to help the Bears fly past the Minnesota Vikings 40-14 on a frosty, hard-hitting Monday night.
Jay Cutler threw three touchdown passes for the Bears (10-4), who last won this division during their 2006 Super Bowl season. Hester caught one of those scoring tosses and also took back the second-half kickoff 79 yards to set up a field goal a few minutes before his game-breaking punt return made it 27-7.
That was Hester's 14th career return touchdown, kickoff or punt, breaking Brian Mitchell's previous mark.
Favre finished 5 for 7 for 63 yards, and the Vikings (5-9) fell apart in front of their proud alumni in town for the franchise's 50th-anniversary celebration featuring all kinds of blasts from the past.
With the Metrodome unusable because of a roof collapse, the game got moved to the University of Minnesota. TCF Bank Stadium was about 80 percent full, with snowballs flying from the seats - sometimes hitting players - and plenty of frolicking in the flakes.
Former Vikings coach Bud Grant jogged around the field at halftime in a short-sleeve purple shirt, getting carried off by some of his former players after an inspired ceremony.
Favre wasn't even supposed to play. His sprained throwing shoulder hurt too much for him to practice this week, and his NFL-record starts streak of 297 regular-season games was already over after sitting out the previous week.
But after feeling better when he woke up on Monday, according to the Vikings, Favre wanted to try. He passed his pregame throwing test and trotted out in front of the Minnesota fans one last time, finding Percy Harvin for a 23-yard TD to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead after the opening drive.
Favre managed one more joyful jump on a teammate's back to celebrate a touchdown, piggybacking right guard Ryan Cook before embracing Harvin and raising his left arm in triumph as he jogged off.
The vibe didn't last very long.
Henry Melton tipped Favre's pass on the next Minnesota possession, Julius Peppers intercepted it at the 14 and Robbie Gould kicked a field goal. The next drive was a three-and-out, and Favre had to hustle back and smother the ball after a high snap slipped through his hands. Cutler zipped a 67-yard pass up the sideline over safety Madieu Williams to a streaking Johnny Knox, and the Bears built a 10-7 lead they never lost.
In the second quarter, the Vikings lost Favre - perhaps for good.
On third-and-4 from the Bears 48, Corey Wootton got in the backfield and grabbed Favre by his non-throwing shoulder, slamming him toward the cold turf. The career leader in almost every major statistical category for quarterbacks, Favre laid motionless for a few seconds before climbing to his feet and walking off with his head hung down.
With a black cap pulled past his eyebrows, Favre grimaced as he put on an oversized purple coat and got ready to watch the rest of the game. Rookie Joe Webb took over, scoring on a 13-yard scramble to the edge of the end zone to cut the lead to 27-14, but the Bears had their way after putting perhaps the final seal on Favre's storied 20-year career.
Favre repeatedly has said this will be his final season and the Vikings, long out of the playoff race, have just two games left.
The Bears were playing their second straight snow-globe-style game, actually, eager to erase the taste of last week's blowout loss at Soldier Field to the New England Patriots.
They certainly got that done.
Afterthoughts in a division featuring Favre and the reigning champion Vikings plus a dangerous Green Bay team, the Bears didn't buy into the doubts. They've caught several opponents at the right time, including the banged-up Vikings. With Cutler playing better, Hester back in his super-rookie form and the defense relatively healthy again, however, the Bears are feeling just fine.
The Bears lost seven of their previous eight games at Minnesota, where they're usually subjected to the trapped noise under the Metrodome roof. The Vikings lost that advantage in the move to the fresh, frigid air, an atmosphere the Bears are sure used to, but the fans were fired up by the novelty of outdoor football's return - 29 years to the day of Minnesota's last game at Metropolitan Stadium.
With general-admission seating, customers braved the cold in parkas, snowmobile suits and ski caps, celebrating touchdowns with snowball throws and cheering their favorite players from the past as they were introduced at halftime.
Dozens of workers the massaged the field before the game to make it as playable as possible, with machines pushing snow across the yard lines and into the corners of the brick-lined walls. Crews gently rolled off the tarp before warmups while the flakes kept flying.
Players from both teams expressed concerns this week about the safety of the turf. Vikings punter Chris Kluwe posted on Twitter after Sunday's walkthrough his comparison of the surface to "concrete." He predicted a "trainwreck" and later said he was asked to stop tweeting by the team.
The temperature at kickoff was 23 degrees, with a windchill of 9, and the field was slippery and hard. The snow tapered off after the field was cleared for warmups, but it picked back up toward halftime and kept falling with the mercury. The attendance was announced at 40,504.
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