Return Man Dwayne Harris Pulled Up from Practice Squad
Weather forecasts call for wind in the 20-25 mph range by gametime Sunday as they diminish from the 40s overnight.
The Bears will have a different punt returner trying to combat those winds.
Former Raiders return man Dwayne Harris has been promoted from the Bears practice squad to be a punt returner against the New Orleans Saints.
"He's been a good player in this league and he's a tough, physical player that can do a lot of different things besides return," Bears special teams coordinator Chris Tabor said. "He covers and all those things."
When Tarik Cohen went out with a torn ACL the Bears turned to Anthony Miller to finish the Atlanta game, then began using 35-year-old Ted Ginn Jr. as punt returner. He has had difficulty fielding the ball, including one muff that the Bears recovered.
Ginn's real problem has been simply in letting footballs hit the ground instead of fielding them. Against the Rams he had two do this that cost the Bears yardage and another bounced high into the air with backspin and remained where it hit.
Against Tampa Bay Ginn had experienced some problems fielding lower or shorter punts.
Ginn has returned five punts in four games for a 4.8-yard average.
Harris was injured last year in Oakland and played in only three games. In 2018 he led the NFL in punt return average at 14.1 yards an attempt and had one for a touchdown.
For his career with Dallas, the New York Giants and Raiders, he has averaged 10.1 yards on punt returns and 25.8 yards on kick returns.
The Bears haven't mentioned how they would use him on returns, but kick returns are also possible because running back Cordarrelle Patterson is suffering from a quad injury and is questionable for the game.
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