There is a place in cyberspace where Vikings coach Brad Childress ranks third on a list of "America's Bravest Coaches." It's a spot he'd prefer not to improve on come Monday, when Bears return man Devin Hester goes prime time at the Metrodome.

In order to rank highly on this list -- which can be found at www.kicktodevin.com -- one has to "bravely" (um, stupidly?) challenge Hester by kicking the ball to him on punts and kickoffs. In their victory at Chicago on Oct. 14, the Vikings allowed Hester to make eight returns, four on punts, including one that Hester turned into an 89-yard touchdown.

Vikings special teams coach Paul Ferraro said that punt was supposed to go out of bounds. Punter Chris Kluwe agreed but said that's a lot easier said than done.

"It's not exactly a precise science," Kluwe said. "You're aiming it 45, 50 yards downfield with your foot. You can ask the quarterbacks about how hard it is throwing it that far. Now try to do it with your foot."

Kluwe said the punt Hester scored on was a few feet from being perfect.

"It was over his head and about 3 feet from the sideline," Kluwe said. "Just to get back there and catch it was a great play on his part. And then he made three or four guys miss."

Kluwe then said what the folks at www.kicktodevin.com hate to hear.

"He's one of the best returners ever," Kluwe said, "which is why we need to kick the ball away from him."

The people at www.kicktodevin.com are so fed up with teams kicking away from Hester that they have designed an online petition to change rules regarding kickoffs and punts. They're proposing that kickoffs going out of bounds should result in a 10-yard penalty and a rekick until the ball is put in play. Currently, kickoffs that go out of bounds result in the ball being spotted at the 40-yard line. As for punts, the proposed rule change would make punts out of bounds a 15-yard penalty from where the ball went out, except for those going out of bounds inside the 20.

The website claims it will send the petition to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL Competition Committee. There also is speculation that the competition committee already is thinking about discussing a rule change to discourage teams from punting the ball out of bounds.

Kluwe said if the league makes it a penalty to punt the ball out of bounds, changes will have to be made to rules regarding the K-balls, which are the footballs used only in the kicking game. They are harder to control because they are pulled right out of the box on gameday, making them slicker and firmer.

"They used to give us only 15 minutes before a game to work with the K-balls," Kluwe said. "This year, they started giving us 45 minutes because [Cowboys quarterback Tony] Romo muffed that hold on the place-kick in the playoffs last year. Now, if they tell us we're going to be penalized if the ball goes out of bounds, they need to give us a week to work with the footballs we're going to use on gameday."

Hester leads the NFL in return touchdowns this season with five. In just his second season, he already holds team records for punt return touchdowns (six), punt and kickoff return touchdowns (10) and total TD returns (11).

If Childress is lucky, he'll pull a Rod Marinelli. After making No. 2 on America's Bravest Coaches list when Hester took one of 12 returns back for a touchdown at Detroit on Sept. 30, the Lions coach landed the No. 3 spot on "America's Most Cowardly Coaches" list when Hester was held in check on just three returns during the Oct. 28 rematch at Soldier Field.

And just who is America's Bravest Coach? Denver's Mike Shanahan, who surrendered two touchdowns among Hester's 10 returns in the Bears' overtime victory on Nov. 25.

Mark Craig • mcraig@startribune.com