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By Adam Hoge-

Devin Hester appeared to break Deion Sanders’ return record last year with the Bears in St. Louis, but a questionable holding penalty by Craig Steltz brought it back.

Thursday night in Atlanta, it finally happened — just not in a Bears uniform.

Hester, who wasn’t offered a contract by the Bears in the offseason, signed with the Atlanta Falcons instead and set the record Thursday night against his former coach, Lovie Smith, now with the Buccaneers. Hester’s 62-yard punt return was the 21st of his career and he finished off the record-setting run by paying tribute to Sanders with a high-step down the sideline.

But the return certainly didn’t surprise anyone in Chicago. It’s his involvement in the Falcons’ offense that is impossible to ignore. Hester already has seven catches for 126 yards this season and scored a touchdown on a 25-yard end-around Thursday night.

And when the night was over, Hester, who never had much success as a receiver with the Bears, had this to say about his time in Chicago:

“I’m happy man. You know what, I’m going to say it, man. I wasn’t happy the last 3-4 years in Chicago because things wasn’t going the way I expect,” he told the NFL Network. “I would always have a great camp, have all the receivers saying and coaches saying I had the best camp of all the receivers. And once the season start off, I’m not there. You know, and I got a quarterback now that man, he loves even the walk-ons, man. And the coaches that know how to get the ball to me, you know, make plays for me. And I’m excited for this season man. This is only the beginning for our team.”

The comment about quarterback Matt Ryan is pretty telling and it’s impossible not to connect the three to four years of unhappiness in Chicago to Jay Cutler’s arrival in 2009. Of course, it also needs to be pointed out that the Bears’ offense didn’t take off until Hester was taken out of a system that suddenly featured Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery and was run by Marc Trestman.

Hester famously threatened to retire the day Lovie Smith was fired after the 2012 season, but he came back despite the fact that his role diminished to just a returner.

Hester is now part of an offense again, but he knows where his true legacy in the NFL will be left.

“I am a returner, but I’m the best one to do it,” he said on the NFL Network.

There’s no arguing that.

Adam Hoge covers the Bears for 87.7 The Game and TheGameChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.