Richard Hightower-Chicago Bears Special Teams Coach

back to back weeks, special teams unit gives up a td....

Yeah I'm with ya'll now. Guy needs to go!

Another pathetic performance by this unit. Time to cut the cord on this guy.

Originally posted by LottDMontanaO:

49ers have lost over 3 touchdowns' worth of points in 62 minutes of football vs Seahawks due to special teams this season

— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) December 5, 2021

He should tally up the points lost over the season too. Probably a swing of 2 or 3 extra wins if this unit just played decent. But of course, we're just gonna run it back from 2019.

He's been a liability since he arrived.

This guy should have been fired by now.

If not, Shanahan should be in the hot seat.

Yeah, it's getting to a point where Shanahan needs to hold everyone accountable or he loses the room.

The reason I believe Kyle won't fire Hightower is due to the fact that he knows his own philosophy in roster building is to essentially ignore special teams.

I believe he's said that he wants players to be able to contribute on offense and defense which is why he wouldn't draft a player to just be a return specialist or gunner.

Special teams will never be a focus under Kyle. Which is one of his biggest flaws imo.

This guy s a major piece of crap. How he even has a job is questionable. He should be fired immediately.

Not to give this guy a big out, but how much did losing Cannon hurt us yesterday ? Benjamin as a backup returner was horrible, Hasty was much better. In general our team only has one plan for everything and the next man up never seems to step up when put on the spot.

Originally posted by Waterbear:
The reason I believe Kyle won't fire Hightower is due to the fact that he knows his own philosophy in roster building is to essentially ignore special teams.

I believe he's said that he wants players to be able to contribute on offense and defense which is why he wouldn't draft a player to just be a return specialist or gunner.

Special teams will never be a focus under Kyle. Which is one of his biggest flaws imo.

If this is true, which it appears from what we've watched during his time as HC here, it's a big mistake IMO.

In a league where parity can & will be there, plus injuries always being prevalent, and just games where either your O or D are not playing their best...with these factors and more, you need to be at the very least good in ST to help cover for those other areas that can and will happen to affect games.

Being at least solid/good in ST will really help towards your margin for error in winning games. Just saying that seems so obvious...like "be good in all three phases". ST is one of those key phases & has to be a pretty strong focus, especially in today's NFL. If that means hiring the best ST coach out there, you do that to shore up a poor area that's been pretty poor for far too long. You can't afford to have it so consistently poor in such a competitive league.

Originally posted by LottDMontanaO:
If this is true, which it appears from what we've watched during his time as HC here, it's a big mistake IMO.

In a league where parity can & will be there, plus injuries always being prevalent, and just games where either your O or D are not playing their best...with these factors and more, you need to be at the very least good in ST to help cover for those other areas that can and will happen to affect games.

Being at least solid/good in ST will really help towards your margin for error in winning games. Just saying that seems so obvious...like "be good in all three phases". ST is one of those key phases & has to be a pretty strong focus, especially in today's NFL. If that means hiring the best ST coach out there, you do that to shore up a poor area that's been pretty poor for far too long. You can't afford to have it so consistently poor in such a competitive league.

I see this as Kyle far too often thinking he's "the smartest guy in the room." Hopefully, he gains some humility and can grow as a head coach. I'm not so sure, but one can hope.

How could they not have expected a possible fake punt from Seattle? They've done this & other trickery so many times under Carroll. Totally unprepared. Inexcusable.

Originally posted by mitpdub:
Not to give this guy a big out, but how much did losing Cannon hurt us yesterday ? Benjamin as a backup returner was horrible, Hasty was much better. In general our team only has one plan for everything and the next man up never seems to step up when put on the spot.

Yeah, that's literally THE issue.

Both his kickers have weak kickoff legs and instead of kicking it lower and out through the back of the EZ, Hightower still has these kicks landing from the 1 yard line to the 6 for an immediate return.

That instantly leads to Cannon having to run down and make a tackle. He's done.

Hightower then pivots to Benjamin who's been active 3 minutes all year and looks completely ill-prepared and fumbled instantly. 7 points the other way.

That leads to him then using Hasty who's just come off I.R.

Aiyuk still has no idea when to field a punt and when to let it go. The gunners tackle him 100% instantly anyhow.

Hightower has never run a trick play even with a Special Teams Weapon. And his unit is even more ill-prepared to guard against one.

He has zero backup plan for WHEN Gould goes down. Still missing crucial FG's and extra points.

Watches returners have early success and then acts surprised when the same returner breaks a 99 yarder because again, he can't figure out that a lower trajectory will help make the ball go further and out the back of the EZ.

How many times was our offense stuck inside our own 5 yard line last night? When was the last time we experienced that from a punt?

He's been given record breaking college punt returners and they've all gotten worse here.

This guy isn't useless. He's destructive.