Johnny Hekker was historically great vs. Bears on Monday night

Johnny Hekker had arguably the best game of his career on Monday night.

For the most part, the Rams’ special teams group has been subpar in 2020. Samuel Sloman hasn’t gotten it done at kicker, the return game has lacked explosive plays and the coverage has room for improvement.

But one aspect has remained unchanged and still great: Johnny Hekker’s punting ability.

Although it wasn’t his best start to the season, he had what may have been the most impressive game of his career on Monday night against the Bears. He punted it away five times, and he nailed all five perfectly.

He pinned each of his punts inside the 10-yard line, with the Rams downing them at the 10, 7, 1, 6 and 5. Hekker even broke out the famous watermelon punt, which is when he kicks the ball away after dropping it horizontally rather than end over end.

To put into perspective just how good Hekker was, check out this stat. He’s the first punter in the last 30 years to punt it at least five times and pin each one inside the 10. It was a near-perfect performance from the All-Pro punter, showing just how dangerous he can be for Los Angeles.

After the game, Hekker was asked by reporters about his chest bump with Aaron Donald after one of his clutch punts. His response was predictably funny, saying he’s just happy Donald knows his name sometimes.

The Bears only had one possession that ended in points on Monday night, and it didn’t come after a Hekker punt. Chicago’s drives averaged just 4.8 plays in length after getting the ball back following a punt by Hekker, with all of them either ending in punts of their own, an interception or a turnover on downs.

The Rams scored 17 points after those possessions, getting good field position most of the time after Hekker pinned Chicago deep.