Bears Give Devin Hester Four-Year Extension, Virtually Everybody Thinks It's a Good Move

For those of you holding out hope for the Bears to trade Devin Hester (at last count, we were up to one person), well, it ain't happenin'. Instead, the team, which had been in negotiations with the Pro Bowl returner before he abruptly staged a two-day holdout, announced he wouldn't play for $445,000, and promptly returned to practice and tweaked his hammy, signed Hester to a new contract a few hours ago.

No word on the how much the team forked over to keep Hester in Chicago through 2013, but I'll guess it'll pay him more than the near-half-million he was scheduled to make in 2008, which must make this dude very, very angry. (Economics: 1, Insane Rambling Diatribe: 0)

[Update, via Football Outsiders: Hester gets $15 million guaranteed, $30 million total, with up to $10 million in bonuses depending upon whether Hester becomes a #1 receiver.]

Whatever, the Bears now have the only guy capable of scoring more than three points at a time under contract, which, if nothing else, should guarantee they don't lose every game by way of shutout. In the meantime, Chicago will look for new and exciting ways to get Hester involved in the offense.

First up: teaching him how to play wide receiver.

Usually, such a transition can be a difficult one, but the Bears currently have Brandon Lloyd and Marty Booker as its starting wideouts. Hester should be the team's No. 1 by the middle of next week. That's not necessarily a compliment.