Maybe Bears Should Trade Devin Hester, Officially Give Up on 2008 Season

The Chicago Tribune's Dan Pompei puts on his Matt Millen gorilla suit and makes the following suggestion in yesterday's column: the Bears should trade Devin Hester. Well, if the idea is to see a team go through an entire season without scoring a single point, I think it's a swell idea.

If, on the other hand, Chicago would like to have a shred of dignity remaining by January 2009, I'd suggest keeping Hester. And not only that, pay the guy, too.

Look, I take Pompei's point -- there are probably a handful of teams willing to part with a boatload of draft picks for Hester -- but for as bad as the Bears already look on paper, they'll be much, much worse with Hester taking kickoffs and punts for six in another NFL city.

I suppose there's a scenario that makes the trade an attractive one -- maybe the Patriots are willing to swap Tom Brady for Hester straight up, or perhaps the Steelers, in an effort to shore up their craptacular special teams, sends the Bears a first-rounder for the Pro Bowl returner.

I'm joking -- neither is gonna happen -- and I just can't see Chicago somehow being better off without Hester. Forget that he is trying to transition to wideout; if he bombs in that roll, he's still the Bears' best scoring threat.

Of course, that says as much about the front office's seeming indifference to the myriad needs on offense as it does about Hester's ability, but there's not a lot you can do about the former right now. On the bright side, the draft is only nine months away.