After one preseason game with the Bears, Kenny Shedd remains a viable candidate to be paroled from the practice squad and allowed to play on the main roster as a punt and kick returner. In his third year of trying to earn NFL game time, he is on the verge of escaping his own personal prison.
Shedd was one of the Bears who didn’t have to apologize for the team’s generally uninspiring performance in Friday’s 18-15 victory over Carolina at Soldier Field.
A Cinderella story from Northern Iowa, Shedd averaged 16.5 yards a return Friday on 99 yards generated by returning three punts and three kickoffs. Even more importantly, Shedd contributed to Kevin Butler’s winning field goal of 51 yards by returning a 47-yard punt 29 yards to set up the Bears at the Panthers’ 39-yard line.
“I’d tried some outside moves on the two earlier punt returns, so on the last one I thought I’d try middle after seeing how their coverage team had come down the other times,” Shedd said. “I was kind of hoping to do better on kick returns, but I’ll take the punt return.”
Numbers game: The Bears’ five fumbles Friday were almost one-quarter of their total of 21 during the 1994 regular season. Todd Burger, moved from guard to backup center, made one of them. Sunday, when the Bears resume workouts, offensive line coach Tony Wise and coach Dave Wannstedt will be trying to plug this reserve role in some way.
Flutter: That’s what fans’ hearts did when Alonzo Spellman required assistance on the field Friday. After his training-camp problems with back spasms, the worst was expected. But he simply had the wind knocked out of him, although that isn’t a simple condition, in his opinion.
“I don’t know if you’ve had that happen to you, but it’s not a pretty thing. You can’t breathe out, you can’t breathe in,” he said.
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Spellman said his move from right to left end remains a taxing learning experience.
“It felt a little awkward, but it’ll come. I’m not worried about anything at all against the run, but it’s my pass rush. I have to use new hand placement, lean to the right rather than the left. I have to get the whole right side of my body coordinated enough for the left side of the line of scrimmage.”
More pressure: The Bears’ pass rush produced two sacks against Carolina with the help of good defensive backfield play that shut down the passing lanes. But linebacker Vinson Smith knows more pressure must be put on quarterbacks.
“We’re going to have to get our pass rush to where we want it to be,” Smith said. “Overall, it wasn’t too bad. But we know we can improve. We’ll be satisfied if we can keep our opponents out of the end zone, like we did with Carolina, and give our offense a chance to start making plays.”