LAKE FOREST – Devin Hester wore a black hood over his head and stood facing his locker with his back to a half-dozen TV cameras.
Hester was angry, and he had no intentions of hiding his displeasure. Less than an hour earlier, he sat in a team meeting as ousted coach Lovie Smith said goodbye.
“The media, the false fans, you all got what you all wanted,” Hester said without making eye contact. “The majority of you all wanted him out. As players, we wanted him in. I guess the fans – the false fans – out-ruled us.”
It was a bad ending to a bad season for Hester, who caught 23 passes for 242 yards and failed to score on special teams for the first time since 2009. It was enough to make him talk about quitting, even though he is under contract through 2013.
“I’m going to go home and get away from football right now,” said Hester, who turned 30 years old in November. “I don’t even know if I want to play again, man. It’s [been] on my mind now for two years now.”
Asked whether football had stopped being fun, Hester didn’t hesitate to answer.
“It’s not. … I’ve got my workers’ comp papers in my pocket,” Hester said. “We’ll see how I feel. I’m going to go home and talk to my wife, my family. We’ll see where we go from there.
“I’ve got two beautiful kids, man. Two boys. A lot of stress has been on my mind lately.”
Bus tossing: Bears quarterback Jay Cutler took a not-so-subtle shot at offensive coordinator Mike Tice when he was asked about the possibility of learning a new system this summer.
Despite having playmakers such as Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall, Tice’s offense finished fifth to last in the league with an average of 310.6 yards a game.
“We’re going to have to make do with it,” Cutler said of a possible personnel change. “I think we’ve got a lot of good pieces offensively, personnel-wise. Once we get a good coordinator and play-caller, we’ll make it work.”
Coming back: The Bears signed six players to reserve/future contracts Monday, which could lead to opportunities to earn a spot on the 53-man roster during training camp.
Those who signed included cornerback Isaiah Frey, the team’s sixth-round pick in the 2012 draft. The Bears also signed guard Chris Riley, guard Derek Dennis, tight end Gabe Miller, receiver Dale Moss and defensive end Aston Whiteside.
Bears bits: Linebacker Nick Roach, whose contract will expire during the offseason, said the Bears had not engaged in many preliminary negotiations about a new deal. … The Bears averaged 23.4 points a game this season while allowing an average of 17.3 points a game.