Benson gets last laugh as Cincy demolishes Chicago
There's not a whole lot to talk about with today's game. The Bears were completely outclassed in every phase of the game. Offense, Defense, Special Teams. The D-Line was abused, the Linebackers were running on their heels all day, and the secondary was flat-out horrible. The completely manhandled and overmatched offensive line was beyond atrocious, and I'd have to say they rank among the worst in football. Cutler made some bad decisions in an attempt to make plays. The WRs were worthless, and Forte continues to show that his rookie year was a fluke. The coaching was bad, the playcalling was bad. This was the most unprepared I've seen the Bears in the Lovie Smith era. This was like one of those Bears-Packers on MNF games where they lose 33-6. Or an 80s-era 49er game where they lose 41-0. Just an embarassment for all involved, and I'd really rather not talk about them anymore. So I'm going to talk about Cedric Benson.
Cedric Benson is leading the freaking league in rushing. He looked AWESOME out there today, and he has looked awesome since the 2nd half of last season. An absolute stud running with the rock. He breaks tackles, he runs downhill with authority all day. He's fast. This is NOT the back we saw in Chicago.
With the Bears, he wasn't half the RB he is now. His first two years, he showed some flashes but was relegated to mostly backup duty as Thomas Jones got the bulk of the carries. Cedric was solid, he was just outplayed by the veteran (and to this day still viable) Jones. After Jones was traded, Benson got his shot. He did absolutely nothing with it. He ran like Keith Traylor. He never broke tackles and always went down after first contact. He had no burst and he was generally worthless that whole season. He was a lousy teammate. Quiet, sulking, and his starting linebackers liked to use him as a tackling dummy every chance they got. Then he got busted with Sun Chips on a boat. And while awaiting word on that, he got busted again one night at 3am as a DUI suspect. The Bears had already drafted Matt Forte, so at this point they decided to cut the cord. (Benson was eventually cleared of all charges). When Benson wasn't even on a team the first four games of last season, and Matt Forte shined with the Bears, it looks as if the Bears were justified in cutting the 5th overall pick from 2005. Then Cincy took a flyer on him.
Being without a team for training camp must have been scared him straight because now he's a superstud. If we knew then what we know now, obviously the Bears might have done things differently. But at the time it all made sense. After the Tank Johnson PR nightmare, the Bears didn't want a repeat. The Bears supported Tank as he repeatedly made them look like a fool. Two strikes on Ced and he was out. Plus, and this is key...he sucked. He was outplayed by Adrian Freaking Peterson, and not the good one. If he hadn't gotten busted, he might have gotten one more shot. But really, at the time, I couldn't agree more with cutting him. He couldn't hit the hole to save his life.
Oh, and he said he was blackballed by the Bears after he was cut. Uh, I don't think so. He was terrible. If somebody knew he was secretly this good, he would have been signed the day after he was released. You think Jerry Jones wouldn't have signed him because the McCaskeys told him not to? Right.
Now he's all smiles as he rubbed the Bears noses in it. Good for him, I guess. It just pisses me off.
I have nothing more to say.