Bears considered change after Marc Mariani’s struggles

SHARE Bears considered change after Marc Mariani’s struggles

Consecutive muffed punts by returner Marc Mariani in the first quarter against the Vikings nearly led to a change.

“Consideration? Yeah,” special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers said Thursday after practice at Halas Hall. “We never got to that. We have several guys on our team that we feel like can do a good job in that area.”

One option would have been veteran receiver Eddie Royal, but he injured his left knee in the second quarter before the Vikings punted again.

Share Events on The Cube“Sometimes it’s a matter of taking a rep off,” Rodgers said. “A lot of people talk about quarterbacks, young quarterbacks, ‘Hey, let’s sit there and watch a series.’ You don’t try to mess with your returner all that much.”

Rodgers still has confidence in Mariani, who continued to handle kickoffs against the Vikings despite his issues with punts. Rodgers cited the wind at Soldier Field and the differences in handling a left-footed punter as reasons for his struggles.

“A little bit of traffic on the first one,” Rodgers said. “The second one, I think it just moved on him late.”

This season, Mariani has returned 13 punts for 98 yards and 12 kickoffs for 310 yards. According to Pro Football Reference, Mariani fumbled three times on 87 total returns in 2010 and once on 78 in 2011 with the Titans.

“Marc is a very confident fielder of the ball,” Rodgers said. “His history has been very good in terms of a ball security. … We have a lot of confidence in Marc going forward.”

Follow me on Twitter @adamjahns

Email: ajahns@suntimes.com

The Latest
Archer Courts, 2242 S. Princeton Ave., will soon get a new hot water system, ventilation system and rooftop solar panels through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Leasure will make his major league debut on Thursday.
The funds will help target a big problem for a city opening its doors to President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Convention in August. Just 17.94% of registered voters in suburban Cook County and 25.7% of registered voters in Chicago voted in person or by mail in the March 19 primary.
Playing time has dwindled for Tinordi, a physical defensive defenseman who was a pleasant surprise for the Hawks last season but hasn’t found nearly as much success without Connor Murphy.
His surgeons spent 10 hours transplanting his new lungs and liver in September. Six months after the operation, Dr. Gary Gibbon remains cancer-free, able to breathe on his own and celebrated his 69th birthday on Wednesday.