FanHouse GaleSayers

Matt Forte has had an incredible season already, piling up tons of yardage for the Chicago Bears and somehow making Kyle Orton's return to glory seem less surprising, if only because of how competent and tough he's been as a rookie.

And, less than a quarter into the Bears game against the Jaguars today, Forte broke Gale Sayers' record for total yards from scrimmage by a Bears rookie. Sayers, of course, was a legend in the NFL and in 1965 piled up a pretty astounding 1,374 total yards from scrimmage as a rookie with Chicago.

He did that in 14 games, compiling 867 rushing yards and a beastly 507 receiving yards while finding the end zone a whopping 20 times that season.

Forte hasn't had as much touchdown success (but that's easy -- just blame Lovie Smith if you need a scapegoat) but he has now broken Sayers record, and even more impressively, he's done it in the same number of games. I point that out because often times these days, people like to question whether or not the extended schedules really make certain milestones worthy of being broken without utilizing the same number of games.

But that doesn't apply to Forte, who, with this rookie year, has established himself as the likely steal of the 2008 NFL draft -- certainly in terms of running backs drafted -- and the future offensive cornerstone for the Bears franchise.

Gale Sayers and Devin Hester have two things in common. They both play(ed) football for the Chicago Bears and are both considered in the conversation for the greatest kick/punt returners in the history of football.

Hester is having quite the disappointing season this year when it comes to the return game, to the point that the Bears are considering other options, and Sayers has a few theories as to the return game's futility thus far.

"It looks like he's afraid to run back kickoffs," Sayers said.

Wow, tell us how you really feel, Gale. Mr. Sayers was emphatic in his opinions on why Hester is struggling this season.

"He's running straight up the field and everybody is tackling him. He looks like he's afraid to go out on his own.

"A couple of times the other team would kick to the right and [Hester] would run to the right and run out of bounds. It's like he doesn't want to run the kickoffs back. Run to the left ... you have the whole field!"

I have to say, being a huge fan of Hester's and watching every return this season, I tend to agree.

Gale Sayers is a day or two behind everybody else, but it's never too late to take a few shots at Cedric Benson. The Hall of Fame Bears running back was the fourth-overall pick in the 1965 draft, exactly 40 years before the team selected Benson in the first round. Draft status is where the similarities end between the two, however, which helps explain why Sayers isn't losing any sleep over Benson's fate:

" George Halas wouldn't have given Benson that many chances and our [former Bears] players wouldn't have given him that many chances," Sayers said of his former coach and NFL founder. "When a player did something wrong, we would get on them.

"I don't feel sorry for [Benson]. He has a lot of money, which a lot of players today think is the only thing that counts. He thinks money can buy himself out of anything he gets into. It is very, very sad."

Money couldn't buy Benson out of all those four-yard losses, which, I guess, proves Sayers' point.

In any event, Benson's still unemployed, and unless the Patriots decide to save his career, he could be kickin' it on the couch for the foreseeable future. If there's anything positive Benson can take from all this: at least Sayers has earned the right to call him out; it's much less embarrassing than having Rashaan Salaam point and gawk, I'd think.

Notes on a trip to the Super Bowl.

I know who the two best kick returners in Chicago Bears history are, but I'm not sure which is the best and which is the second best.

Gale Sayers, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who played for the Bears from 1965 to 1971, is the NFL's all-time leader in kickoff return average. Devin Hester, who took the league by storm as a Bears rookie return man in 2006 and was just as great in 2007, owns the NFL record for kick return touchdowns in a season.

So who's the better player? I asked Sayers, who was at the Gridiron Greats fundraiser Wednesday night.

"He's had a great two years," Sayers said. "He's a great talent, but it's too early to say where he ranks among the all-time greats because you have to see how the rest of his career plays out."

Specifically, Sayers said he thinks Hester will increasingly find that teams kick away from him, and that opposing teams put their starting linebackers and defensive backs on the kickoff and punt coverage teams when they play the Bears. That means Hester may have a hard time matching what he did in the last two years. Sayers also believes that if the Bears want Hester to play wide receiver, they need to teach him the ins and outs of the position, and not just tell him to go long.

As for Sayers, although he was helping to raise money for disabled former players, he doesn't count himself among the players who need help. The knee injuries that ended his career still "hurt a little bit," he said, but he was walking without trouble and appeared to be in good enough shape that he's still, just a few months away from his 65th birthday, the Kansas Comet.

Gale Sayers was on Mike and Mike in the Morning today, and although I heard less than five minutes of the interview, I learned more about football than I usually learn watching two hours of NFL Countdown. The Mikes asked Sayers to evaluate LaDainian Tomlinson and compare him to great runners of the olden days, and Sayers launched into a detailed analysis of the way offensive football has changed.

Sayers pointed out, for instance, that when he was playing, the hashmarks were closer to the sidelines than they are today, which made it harder to run on the short side of the field, with the defense adjusting its formations to force runners out of bounds. Conversely, that made things more wide open on the other side of the field for runners of Sayers' day.

Sayers also discussed artificial turf (which would have made guys like him faster) and medical advances (which would have lengthened his career). And he talked about the way rules have changed to favor the passing game.

My point with all this is that Sayers is a great analyst, and I can't for the life of me figure out why I don't see him on TV more often. Why doesn't ESPN hire him to do regular commentary and analysis? He's smart, articulate and still follows the game closely. It's possible that he's been offered jobs and turned them down (his Wikipedia entry says he's a successful public speaker and businessman) but if he's willing to go on Mike and Mike for free, presumably he'd be willing to do regular ESPN appearances for money. If ESPN hired him, it would be money well spent.