Devin Hester is truly something special

Devin Hester tried to explain it, he really did.

This was five years ago, a week after the Chicago Bears rookie had tied an 87-year-old NFL record with an exhilarating 108-yard return of a missed field goal for a touchdown against the Giants.

He shrugged in his seat. He squirmed a little.

"That's just my mentality," Hester said finally. "Whenever I get my hands on the ball … I think big."

Like so many artists, Hester has difficulty articulating just what it is that makes him so great. Like Picasso, Jordan and Baryshnikov, he prefers to express himself through his work. If you have a few minutes to kill, fire up some of his scintillating runs on YouTube -- seriously, these are not diminishing returns.

Hester returned six kicks for touchdowns in 2006 -- three punts, two kickoffs and that missed field goal -- an NFL record. And then he tied it with six more in 2007. He came into the league as a 5-foot-11, 190-pound cornerback from the University of Miami, but today the Bears regularly deploy him as a wide receiver. He's still returning kicks, though, and in 2011 he's already brought back three.

The word "special" has become a devalued currency in sports, but Hester is worthy of the title. He is probably the most special special-teams player in the history of the National Football League.

The mounting numbers are indisputable:

. Only Hester's mentor, the ethereal Deion Sanders, has more returns for touchdowns -- one more, at 19 -- but nine of them came via interception returns, an opportunity Hester no longer has. Hester actually has 19, but the NFL's accounting system doesn't recognize the breathtaking 92-yard kickoff return against the Colts that opened Super Bowl XLI; Sanders does not have a postseason return.

. Hester is already the league's all-time official leader in kick returns, with 17 -- 12 on punts and five on kickoffs. Brian Mitchell is a distant second with 13.

. The sobering thing? Hester, 29, has achieved all of this in 87 games. Mitchell and Sanders played 223 games and 188 games, respectively.