Cedric Benson: Longhorns and Bengals and Bears, Oh My!November 4, 2009
Cedric Benson is laughing on the inside, deservedly so. As he chills wherever he is at during his bye week, his Cincinnati Bengals are 5-2 and his former team, the Chicago Bears are 3-3 fighting to stay above .500. Unless you’ve been living underneath a football rock you know why Benson is smiling.
He had the most single game rushing yards of his young but scarred career against the team that drafted him and proceeded to scar him, the Chicago Bears. Benson got it in for 37 carries and 189 yards and touchdown. On top of having his best rushing day of his pro career his team molly wapped the glorious Monsters of the Midway, 52-10. To the Bears’ credit Pro Bowl defensive cornerstones, DT Tommie Harris and LB Brian Urlacher did not play and they are probably the most important players in terms of stopping the run for the Bears. Either way, the Bears’ front office which I’ve never been a fan of has been made to look stupid once again. Yes, Benson was trippin two off-seasons ago with his arrests in Austin. The least they could have done was trade for him and get something of value in return, let’s say a back up linebacker, defensive lineman, or defensive back all areas in which their lack of depth has hurt them this season.
Yes, I would have got rid of Benson, but not for nothing. I also would have kept Thomas Jones. Now, Matt Forte is no chump but he’s been slowed by an injury this season which is causing him to suffer from a sophomore slump. Also Kevin Jones, who was actually challenging Forte for the starting job was lost in the preseason to a season ending ankle injury. The front office should have pursued a replacement for Jones, but they inexcusably didn’t leaving Forte to carry the load which he did brilliantly last season but the front office knew he was not 100% heading into the season and the chance for him having a great year was unlikely.
The Bears have all the excuses in the world, but this is a game where injuries, stupid front office execs, crowd noise, mistakes, officials blind eyes etc all play a large role in the final outcome. The Bears don’t have any excuses that I, any Bengals fans, or Cedric Benson wants to hear. They let him go, and he went for 189 yards and 1 touchdown in an very classy manner as well.
That’s all I got,
Ricky Writer
