CINCINNATI - For Cedric Benson on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, vengeance was his - 45-10.
But the reformed tailback received a lot of help at Paul Brown Stadium after a week of moral support from teammates and the Bengals' coaching staff, who enabled Benson to stick it to his old team with a perfectly executed first-half offensive game plan that included unbalanced lines, inverted full-house backfields, a Wildcat formation and a heavy dose of the former bad news Bear.
The result was one of the worst defensive showings in 10 years by a Bears team missing a pair of All-Pros on Sunday in middle linebacker Brian Urlacher and tackle Tommie Harris, and outside linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who had over 100 tackles last season.
Against the Bears' 12th-ranked NFL defense, Benson's record-setting rushing day set up Cincinnati's deadly passing attack led by nearly flawless Carson Palmer, who threw five touchdown passes - two to Chad Ochocinco - before letting Benson hit pay-dirt himself on a 1-yard fourth-quarter score.
Benson carried 37 times for a career-high 189 yards, the eighth-best rushing day in Bengals history.
“Ced is always pretty motivated, so I don’t know that there was any extra," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said of Benson playing against his former team. "I thought the guys did a good job of leaving it all out there for Ced today. Everybody played."
Adding insult after injuries, the Bengals kept running Benson deep into the fourth quarter despite the big lead because reserve tailback Bernard Scott and fullback Jeremi Johnson were too banged up to carry the ball and injured back Brian Leonard was a game-day inactivation.
Payback is a bee-otch isn't Chicago, city of Big Shoulders and sometimes a vindictive press?
Check out this headline a Chicago Tribune copy desk editor slapped on top of a story about Benson in Friday's legendarily long-running sports column, In the Wake of the News:
"Cedric Benson still running his mouth"
Well, at least the first four words of that headline are correct.
"That was amazing. I am happy for Ced. It got kind of played up as a revenge game, and he had one quote that kind of got played up during the week, but I am just really happy for him and (former Bear) Tank (Johnson)," Palmer said. "It is special when you are somewhere for awhile, whether it works out or not. It’s just nice to play that team and win for those guys and our team, our fans and our organization."
Running like a man with a purpose on Sunday - something he has admitted he didn't always do while playing for the Bears - Benson re-staked his claim as a favorite to win this season's NFL rushing title a little less than a year and a half after the Bears unceremoniously dumped the former fourth overall draft pick out of Texas.
Asked to explain how he had his career-best game against his former team," Benson said. "It’s hard to explain. It was a bit of an emotional week coming into this one. At the end of the day, we played against my ex-team. With the way things unfolded there until my arrival here, it was just a bit of an emotional day. I tried to make it a point throughout the week to not get too emotional coming into this game. I didn’t want to seek revenge. Revenge was not a goal of mine — it’s not how I wanted to play against them. I just wanted to take advantage of my opportunities.”
The Bears waived Benson because of perceived personal problems, piled on top of poor production, all of which was fanned by the ravenous dog-eat-dog Chicago media, who sometimes trip all over themselves trying to beat each other to a story and non-stories.
In Chicago, Benson (and maybe his agent Eugene Parker) was his own worst enemy from day one following a 36-day contract holdout which played out after Benson was the highest drafted Bears player since Dan Hampton in 1979. Benson, the sixth-leading rusher in NCAA Division I-A history and the second-leading rusher in Texas history when he completed his Longhorns career, was the last 2005 first-round pick to sign.
The holdout ended three days after Benson walked into Halas Hall for an unscheduled meeting with Bears general manager Jerry Angelo and 10 days after the GM released a statement saying the Bears had made their final offer. Benson's agent, Parker, was not present. Benson signed a five-year contract and got on the practice field, but suffered a sprained knee ligament midway through the season and missed most of the remaining schedule.
Benson thought the Bears defense was cheap-shotting him during practices as a way to pay their disrespects after Benson said he would be starting by the third game despite holding out and missing practice. A national football writer reported that certain players attempted to intentionally injure Benson during drills, though Bears players denied it.
Benson quickly became a favorite whipping boy by the local press, which did its job while reporting Benson's misfires on the field and his misdeeds off it, including two alcohol-related charges which amounted to the last straws for the Bears. But, all along, the Chicago media piled on Benson like gang-tacklers, fanning Chicagoans' distaste for the tailback and permanently entrenching Benson as a 'bad guy' to Bears fans. Chicago took Matt Forte in the second round of the 2008 draft to complement holdover back Adrian Peterson, and for all intents and purposes, it was over for Benson in the Windy City.
The Bears confirmed it when they released Benson on June 9, 2008, following his second alcohol-related arrest in five weeks.
Shortly after a grand jury failed to indict Benson on both charges in Austin, Benson signed a one-year, $520,000 contract with the Bengals September 30 of last year. The Bengals re-signed Benson this past March after a truncated 2008 performance in which he rushed for a career-high 757 yards, including a pair of 100-yard efforts to close the season, highlighted by 171 yards Week 16 at Cleveland.
On Sunday, Benson had his first chance to pay back Chicago for giving up on him and he softened up Lovie Smith's Bears defense like sheets of Bounce.
Benson, yet another castoff who has found a home in Cincinnati, eclipsed his single-game rushing high set last season in the Cleveland road game, and had the biggest Bengals rushing day in five years, dating to November of 2004 when Rudi Johnson gashed the Browns for 202 yards on 26 carries.
Earning the respect of the Bears' defense, at long last, after running for 32 yards on the Bengals' opening drive and taking a direct snap in the Wildcat formation, Benson pulled second-level Chicago defenders closer to the box.
That's when Palmer began letting it fly. Palmer, who played a second straight game with a protective wrap around his sprained left thumb and a glove on his left (non-throwing) hand, threw four first-half touchdown passes, and completed all but four passes in the game while racking up a near-perfect quarterback rating of 147.0.
Another beneficiary of Benson's revenge running was Ochocinco, who enjoyed his best game of the season with 10 catches for 108 yards. Receivers Chris Henry and Laveranues Coles and tight end J.P. Foschi also caught touchdown passes from Palmer, who finished 20-of-24 passing for 233 yards, while coming to within one of his single-game high of six passing TDs set against the Browns in Cleveland in 2007.
And that's not all, folks.
The Bengals defense, in its first game without sidelined-for-the-season sack master Antwan Odom, hardly missed Odom at all while holding Forte (6 carries, 24 yards) and the Bears' suddenly anemic ground attack to 35 rushing yards (2.9 yards per carry).
Gee, you think the Bears might miss having Benson?
"It's over. It's done with. I've moved on, and now we can all move on. We played against the Bears and had an unbelievable day. I'm sure they might regret some of the decisions they made," said Benson who took some delight in staring down some of his former teammates near the end of the game, and attempted to celebrate with fans before the game's conclusion until Ochocinco stopped him. "That was an emotional moment. Here we are running the clock out and we have a lot of points on the board. A small part of me just couldn't resist going over there and showing emotion."
With Forte unable to spring loose, again, the Bears quickly abandoned the run, again, and turned to recently re-upped quarterback Jay Cutler, the former Denver Broncos whipping boy who earlier this week signed a two-year contract extension worth $30 million, a deal that will keep him in Chicago four more years, plenty of time for the arrogant Cutler to alienate Bears fans, and the Chicago media, just as Benson did.
Forced to pass after the Bears fell behind 31-0 before Robbie Gould hit a field goal with about a minute left before halftime, Cutler (26-of-37 for 231 yards) wound up getting intercepted three times, twice by cornerback Leon Hall and once by safety Chris Crocker, who also forced a fumble.
The Bengals scored on all five first-half possessions and scored on all seven of Palmer's possessions before he gave way with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter to backup QB J.T. O'Sullivan. Chicago had not given up so many first-half points since 2003, and suffered its worst loss in 158 games, dating to October of 1999. Cincinnati didn't have to punt until 8:11 remained in the game.
"The Chicago Bears should never lose a football game like that. It was a tough day at the office for us. Nothing went right today," coach Smith said. "I’m disappointed in our defense. We knew we're playing a good offense, but we should be able to hold them down a lot better than that. We didn’t stop the run or fill gaps, and there were missed tackles. They knocked us around. We are better than that. Offensively, it was the same thing. I think they were plus-four in turnover ratio, and you can’t have that. We did not get much going on offense, whether it be the run or the pass. They beat us, and you have to give them credit."
The Bengals' Domata Peko, who left last week's game against Houston with a knee injury and was questionable all week after limited practices, started at left tackle and inspired the defense, and was even the leading fullback on Benson's touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter for the Bengals' final score.
Oft-injured tackle Frostee Rucker had a sack. Steady middle linebacker Dhani Jones led with seven solo tackles as the Bengals outgained the Bears, 448-279. Thanks to coordinator Mike Zimmer's ball-hawking defense, the Bengals also doubled up the Bears on first downs, 30-15, and had a time of possession advantage of nearly 13 minutes.
"I think for the first time this year, that was the first complete football game we’ve played," said coach Lewis.
The Bengals beat the Bears (3-3) by 35 points, and improved to 5-2 for the first time since 2005, the Bengals only playoff season in 19 years.
And yes, this was the first win of the season where the surprising Bengals didn't have to eke it out at the last minute.
"It's good to have some distance at the end," coach Lewis said. "You don't get many of those in the NFL."
But, in the NFL, you can get a second chance. Benson is making the most of his for the Bengals, who march into their bye week with a head full of steam while sitting atop the AFC North Division, tied with Pittsburgh.