LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Richard Hightower has experienced the highest of highs during his career as a special teams coordinator.

He represented San Francisco in that same role back in the 2021 season, when his 49ers unit blocked a punt late in the NFC’s division playoff round, scooped the ball up and then scored a touchdown.

A short while after, Bears legend and then 49ers kicker Robbie Gould converted a game-winning, 45-yard field goal as time expired to, ironically enough, beat the Green Bay Packers and reach to the conference championship.

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Hightower has far more moments of elation that disappointment in his line of work, where success is expected and failure to execute often equates to a massive turning point or the literal difference between a win or loss.

The Bears experienced true disappointment on Sunday against Green Bay, when a decisive Cairo Santos field goal attempt was blocked as time expired to cement an 11^th straight loss to the rival Packers.

While the nuances of the play have been broken down all week, from protection issues to kick trajectories, hash marks and whether Matt Eberflus should’ve tried to get closer, Hightower stood before the media on Thursday and took full responsibility for the breakdown on a crucial play.

“The result was not what we wanted,” Hightower said. “It was not what we wanted and that starts with me. And it ends with me. It has to do with nobody else.”

We’ve heard the “it starts with me” cliché before, but it was the way Hightower said it that rang clear. He was emphatic in this point on more than once occasion, saying that he needs to get his players ready for a successful play regardless of circumstances.

He was offered the excuse of recent fluctuations in offensive-line health. He wouldn’t discuss results of an NFL review of whether the Packers should’ve been flagged for making illegal contact with a defenseless player in long snapper Scott Daly, which might’ve shown illegality from the opposition, saying, “quite honestly, it doesn’t change the result.”

His motivation and focus centered on keeping his guys on the same positive track from before Sunday’s mistake.

“What I told our guys is, in adversity you have and in strikes in life, you’ve gotta get up off the mat,” Hightower said. “You bleed a little bit, and sometimes you bleed a lot, but you’ve gotta get up and fight. And that’s the message that I’ve told them and that’s the message that we’re going with.”

The message comes with honesty, accountability and solutions. That’s how Hightower has run this practice week, aimed at continuing to do the things required to be successful and be just a little bit better in the next big moment.

“You have to be real; you have to stand in front of them and you have to lead them like men,” Hightower said. “That’s what I do every day and that’s what I’m going to continue to do but do it at a higher level so that we can celebrate because there’s no feeling like when you kick a game-winner and you go in that locker room and you get to hug everybody. That’s the best feeling in the world and that’s the moments that I live for, and our guys live for.”