Vikings will aim to contain Chicago's premier return man

The fact that Chris Kluwe spent extra time in practice this week working on punting the ball out of bounds should come as no surprise.

Two weeks after the Saints' Reggie Bush returned two punts for touchdowns and Kluwe drew the ire of coach Brad Childress for not putting the ball out of play, the Vikings will face another premier return man Sunday in Chicago's Devin Hester.

Hester has returned 11 punts and kickoffs for touchdowns in two-plus seasons, placing him two off the career record of 13 set by Brian Mitchell from 1990 to 2003. Two of Hester's punt returns for scores came against the Vikings each of the past two seasons at Soldier Field, the site of Sunday's game.

It's no wonder the Vikings are dismissing the fact that Hester has not been as effective on returns this season. He has no touchdowns and is averaging 22.6 yards on 14 kickoffs (23rd in the NFL) and 5.4 yards on 11 punts (24th). At this point in the 2007 season, he was averaging 23.6 yards on 19 kick returns with one touchdown and 19.4 yards on 20 punt returns with two scores.

The dropoff might be in part because Hester is being used more at wide receiver. He has caught 16 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns after having 20 receptions for 299 yards and two touchdowns last year, including an 81-yarder against the Vikings.

"His record speaks for itself," Childress said of Hester's return ability. "I just know the guy has the ability to go the distance any time he touches the ball, and that's whether you hand it to him, kick it to him or throw it to him. He's a very talented guy."

Ideally, special teams coordinator Paul Ferraro would like for Kluwe and kicker Ryan Longwell to keep the ball out of Hester's hands.

Kluwe could be asked to punt out of bounds -- something he struggled to do against the Saints -- but the exact strategy won't be decided until the Vikings get a chance to see what the conditions are like inside the usually windy Soldier Field.

"If the conditions are perfect, certainly that's part of the plan," Ferraro said. "But that's not the only thing we are going to do. We will be prepared to do some other things in terms of our coverage." Longwell can't kickoff out of bounds; the penalty would give the Bears the ball at their own 40-yard line. But that doesn't mean the Vikings won't have a strategy.

"You just be creative with where you place the ball and use the advantage that you do have, and that's we know where we are going to kick it and they don't until the ball is hit," Longwell said. "You just try to minimize him in the game as best you can, which is fairly tough to do."