One of the Bears’ most prized offseason acquisitions just earned some considerable hardware.
Three cheers for Cordarrelle Patterson:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5sUnqrlalJ/
Patterson earned the NFC’s Special Teams Player of the Month award for November, becoming the first Bears special teams contributor to win the award since Devin Hester did it in October 2011. You remember that Hester guy, right? Well, Patterson is a great special teams player in his own right and deserves all of the confetti showers for his accomplishments in November.
It is easy to be aware of Patterson’s kick-return excellence over the last month, in which he returned 10 kicks for 294 yards. The best of which was a return FOX broadcaster Joe Buck didn’t even want to see happen in the first place:
“Take a knee, Cordarrelle. Please!”#CHIvsDET pic.twitter.com/XAddc5QLYV
— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) November 28, 2019
But let’s not overlook his tackles as a gunner on the punt coverage team, or the times he downed punts to pin opposing offenses deep under the shadow of their own goal posts. The well-rounded efforts from Patterson have made him a fan favorite of those who appreciate the third phase of the game.
When the Bears’ signed Patterson last spring, the move was done in hopes his presence would help the team win the field position battle it had been losing for quite some time, raise the level of the special teams unit, and add a little something extra to the offense. Patterson’s 30.9 yards per return average is the tops in the NFC and the second-best in the NFL and the Bears’ special teams unit ranks as the ninth best in the game by Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric. So while the offensive contributions haven’t been there as much as anyone would have liked, being a strong contributor in two out of three impact areas isn’t all that bad.
Let’s see if Patterson can keep the good vibes going heading into December.