Trouble heightens for special teams

CHICAGO - Vikings punter Chris Kluwe sat down at his locker and, without prompting, summed up the special-teams bloopers that contributed greatly to his team's 48-41 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field.

"That stinks," he said.

In a season already marred by special-teams breakdowns, the Vikings trumped them all with a few doozies that put them in a tough hole. The Bears scored two touchdowns on oddball special-teams plays, and neither directly involved dynamite return man Devin Hester.

The Vikings faced questions all week about whether they would kick the ball to Hester or boot it out of bounds, but they made that moot on their first punt attempt.

Kluwe dropped the snap deep in his own territory, picked it up and tried to rush a punt, but Chicago's Craig Steltz blocked it.

"As I was kicking I saw the flash in my peripheral vision," Kluwe said. "I pretty much knew I was doomed at that point."

With the ball still loose, Kluwe kicked it again before being hit by two Bears. But he kicked it right to Garrett Wolfe, who returned it 17 yards for a touchdown. Kluwe was called for illegal kicking, which was declined, and the Bears had a 14-7 lead.

"It was on me," Kluwe said. "I took my eyes off the ball. I put my head up. I've got to catch the ball first before I kick it. Just can't let something like that happen. Obviously we lost by seven points and they got seven points off that play."

Asked why he kicked the ball, Kluwe said: "I was just trying to get it out to try and keep them from getting any more than they already have. I knew I was going to get an illegal kicking of the ball penalty when I kicked it when it was lying on the ground. But it went right to one of their guys."

Kluwe drew the ire of coach Brad Childress two weeks ago when he failed to kick the ball out of bounds two times on punts to Saints returner Reggie Bush. Childress was not critical of Kluwe after his mistake Sunday, but Kluwe admitted it's been a difficult few weeks.

"They could have been easier," he said. "That's one way of putting it. But it's the nature of the business. You have ups, you have downs."

He had company Sunday. Punt returner Charles Gordon had a ball deflect off his hand and the Bears recovered it in the end zone for a second-quarter touchdown.

Bears punter Brad Maynard's punt was high and deep, and Gordon decided to let it bounce into the end zone. Gordon blocked Zackary Bowman as the ball landed at the 7, but it bounced up and hit Gordon's hand. It traveled into the end zone and was recovered by Bowman, giving Chicago a 24-17 lead.

"I was trying to hold up [Bowman] to buy a little more time so the ball would bounce in the end zone," Gordon said. "Sometimes that block I tried to make would be the difference from them downing it inside the 5. It's just a fluke play. I've never had anything like that happen to me."

The Vikings also had smaller, less glaring problems in special teams. They had an offsides penalty on Fred Evans on what would have been a 53-yard field-goal attempt for Chicago at the end of the first half. Bears kicker Robbie Gould made the 48-yarder.

The Vikings also gave the Bears great field position in the first half with their squib kicks and pooch kicks. Chicago's average drive in the half started at its own 46. The Vikings had better success kicking it deep in the second half, in part because Hester left the game because of an injury.

"A guy like [Hester] you have to respect, but it's tough to give an NFL offense the ball at the 50-yard line," kicker Ryan Longwell said.