Revenge, thy name is Cedric Benson

When the Chicago Bears released Cedric Benson 2 years ago, they had a myriad of reasons for doing so. Benson hadn’t lived up to his top 10 draft pick. Benson was considered soft by his teammates. And the legal issues concerning Benson certainly didn’t help his popularity with the city of the Chicago.

So even without a proven running back to rely on, the Bears released Benson, getting nothing for him other than the cap room saved by not bringing him back for another year.

Obviously, Benson disagreed with the Bears assessment of his talent and his character. Benson would ultimately be cleared of the legal issues that were apparent during his time in Chicago, and he managed to display enough talent to sign on with the Cincinnati Bengals only a few months after the Bears deemed him unworthy of filling a vacant spot in their backfield.

Well, revenge a dish best served cold.

Yesterday, Benson, with his 4-2 Bengals in tow, took on the Chicago Bears in what can only be described as a laugher of a football game. The Bengals came out the gate determined to put it to the Bears, and Benson certainly did his share of shoving his success in the face of the Bears management.

Just 4 minutes into the game, the Bengals scored their first touchdown of the game. By halftime, the score was 31-3 and the Bengals were in complete control of the game.

Of course, that wasn’t enough for Cedric Benson. Seemingly with the permission of his coach and teammates, Benson went out in the second half and really stuck it to the Bengals. Benson finished the day with 189 rushing yards on 37 carries. And he scored a late touchdown in the 4th quarter to put the Bengals up 45-3 in a move that can only be described as pure retribution.

It just goes to show you how hard it is for a team to make personnel decisions. Not because they effect the team’s ability and talent, but sometimes it can look really bad when a team lets go of a player that clearly had more talent than the team had suspected. That’s the Packers fought to keep Brett Favre out of Minnesota, and it’s why the 49ers did their best to keep Jerry Rice and Joe Montana from going to other teams as well. Because it’s one thing to let a player go when you think he’s past his prime. It’s an entirely different animal when that player comes back and destroys your team to prove that he’s anything but past his prime. Benson did just that in Week 7, perhaps causing the Bears to be a little more reluctant to release their next big name player.

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