"Bears great Gale Sayers believes Devin Hester may be running scared.

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

Sayers, a Hall of Fame running back, returned six kickoffs and two punts for touchdowns in his first three years. Hester's approach confuses him.

"He's running everything up the middle. [The Bears return team] might have a middle return on, but if every [defender] is going to the middle, he has enough speed to go outside. He's not doing it.

"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!"

Hester, a two-time Pro Bowl returner, signed an incentive-laden four-year contract extension last summer believed to be worth up to $30 million with $15 million guaranteed. Much of the money depends on his performance at wide receiver, and that naturally leads to speculation Hester might be trying to preserve himself on kick returns to achieve his contract goals as a receiver.

"I hope he doesn't think that way," Sayers said.

Hester returned 12 kicks for touchdowns in his first two seasons, including a pair of kickoffs (94 and 96 yards) against the St. Louis Rams on Dec. 11, 2006. The Bears return to the Edward Jones Dome on Sunday to face the Rams.

Asked if he thought Hester would take his advice to take more risks on kicks, Sayers said, laughing, "I'm 65 years old … what do I know about football?"

Sayers also wonders if the added hits Hester is taking as a wide receiver have made him tentative on kick returns.

"I was not worried about getting hurt," said Sayers, who many consider the greatest open-field runner of all-time. "Does that have anything to do with him as a return player now because he takes the hard shots? Maybe he doesn't like getting hit. … I don't know.

"It looks to me like he needs to go out on his own like he did the first year. He still has the speed and everything. But he's not taking a chance like he did. You have to take a chance.""