just wondering ... i know many bears fans loved to rip into cedric benson blaming him for his lack of production. so was he the issue ? discuss
I still say screw Benson. If he didn't wanna be here in the first place, he sure showed it. Oh well, i'm not gonna live in the past on a waste of time thread like this one.
I think the Bears did Benson a favor by cutting him. He seemed to be on a high horse when he was drafted and didn't seem to want to work. Then he was cut and it brought him back to earth real fast and, in a way, rejuvenated his work ethic. While I am not sure if Benson is only playing for another contract, he looks like he WANTS to play professionally.
This is true... Benson had burst coming out of Texas, then he got to the Bears and lacked the burst that made his combination of speed and power so good. Now he's with the Bengals and definitely looks like a whole new running back. Bears had no offensive line for him to run behind and yeah he was a bit of a me me guy when he got there. The point is though that the Bears never handled the situation right and probably gave up on a franchise back way to early, even though some of Bensons off-field incidents made their decision to let him go easy. **********Automerged Doublepost********** It was the same situation when Benson and Jones were there, no run blocking. Jones was able to make the best of the poor blocking and make a few plays every once in a while and Benson wasn't doing jack crap.
you have to ask yourself though, was benson just one of these guys that didn't give a crap because the team around him sucked ? not that i condone it if that's the case but bears fans that i had the chance to speak to during that time blamed everything on him.
Benson not doing jackcrap when he couldn't find running room was my biggest knock on him. Benson gave me the impression that he was a lazy SOB when he was here. The only reason he wasn't as bad in 2005 and 2006 was because Thomas Jones was getting on his case. If you have to get on someones case, thats the sign of a person who is lazy. Benson getting cut by the Bears brought him back down to reality. He's doing very well in Cincinnati, good for him BUT I stand by my opinion on Cedric Benson and that will never change. I feel like he hecked the Bears over with his work ethic.
that may very well be the case. now wouldn't he be a prime example of why the nfl needs a rookie cap ?
There are way too many $30 million guaranteed rookie contracts now of days. So a rookie salary cap has been needed for how many years now?
Dude... they had the same YPC, IIRC so that point is null. The run blocking on the '06 line was still pretty good and it dropped off sharply in '07 and has progressively gotten worse ever since then. Benson had poor blocking in '07 but he also had a horsecrap work ethic and a lot of self-inflicted wounds on and off the field. He had a sense of entitlement about himself, admitted to not watching game tape on blitz assignments (Jones did and not so coincidentally, Benson was a piss poor blocker) and had stone hands. Once Benson got the job he was fat and happy, blamed everyone else for anything that went wrong, didn't give a flying rat's butt until he got cut. **********Automerged Doublepost********** The team that went to the Super Bowl? In any case I think the body of work after 2006 manifestly shows all of the problems were coaching (mainly Lovie, who got additional authority after he signed his extension and proceeded to heck everything up)
i agree with the sentiments already echoed. benson isn't a great RB but he looked a lot worse in chicago because of the o-line so it was natural that people questioned him.
I have to agree with lostfan here about the o-line in 2006 and the o-line in 2007. Benson had pretty decent 2005 and 2006 seasons. However though, he depended a lot on bulldozing right through d-lines. In 2007, whenever there was no running room, instead of looking for running room, he would just fall down without a fight. Not to mention, Benson didn't have Thomas Jones to light a fire under his butt in 2007. Benson can go on and rush for over 10,000 yards in his career and my opinion of him still won't change.
Benson wasn't the only problem when he was here but he was in fact a little snitch c**t during his time in Chicago and although he may never admit it, the Bears cutting him was the best thing that ever happened to him because it kicked him in the butt to work harder and thus you get what you see in Cincinnati now. :icon_cool:
Well put, plus his run-ins with the law/alcohol/boating I think, maybe helped wake him up also. He went what, almost a year before being picked up by the then, lowly Bengals.
