Bears Rookie Gets Another Shot

The Bears face some lineup decisions this week, like whether Lucas Patrick plays left guard or center, but one situation they are happy with for now is Velus Jones Jr. as punt returner.

They are not putting him to the curb as a returner even if his muffed punt cost the Bears a chance at a tying drive in Sunday's 20-12 loss but he has a strong supporter in special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.

"I haven't lost any confidence in Velus," Hightower said. "I'm glad no one ever gave up on me the first mistake I made. That's how guys get better. You've got to give him chances, you've got to give him opportunities, and he's a special player.

"Nobody feels worse about that play than Velus does, so he's right back out there. He's ready to go."

The Bears tried to rally around Jones this week.

"I mean, he's down. No one wants to drop the ball at any point in time," wide receiver Darnell Mooney said. "And then it was a critical situation, so I mean, he's very down on himself.

"But things happen like that all the time. But he'll be fine, for sure. He's going to have a lot more opportunities to change that thought in his mind. He's gonna score a lot of touchdowns for us, whether they be punt returns or offense. So he'll forget about it soon."

Jones' problem was one of mechanics on the return, and Hightower addressed it with him.

"Yeah, he just has to beat the ball to the spot and if you take a look at that play, he caught the ball outside of the framework of his body," Hightower said.

Hightower showed where Jones caught the ball reaching to the side instead of centering it.

"You try to get to the spot and get the ball centered if you can and get your thumbs up, pinkies together, elbows together and then try to catch it this way so that you have, if it does shoot you can get it and your elbows serve as a brace for the ball," Hightower said. "But he never really got a chance to get under it and it kind of died on him at the end."

Moreso than the technique as a concern is the confidence factor. A rookie muffed his second punt return after missing the first three games and the final preseason game with an injury. It would be easy for that to get in his head.

"I think when, we are talking about V12, Velus," Hightower said. "He is so confident. Super confident. So that, I mean he was already talking about the next opportunity that he was going to get after that happened.

"Obviously, he didn't feel great about that. He's a confident person and we have all the confidence in the world in him. I can't wait to see him return it again."

Part of this confidence is what Jones did with his first punt return. He had a 19-yarder.

"We just need him to do it again. But he's excited," Hightower said. "He's got that look in his eyes this week, so I can't wait to see him play."

The muff was only the 20th for Jones in a game since he started college. He never returned punts until his final year at Tennessee and averaged an outstanding 15.1 yards on 18 returns then.

When Jones was injured, the Bears used Dante Pettis on punt returns. His longest return in three games was 1 yard.

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