[CBFF] By keeping Benson, Bears court non-stop trouble

Sun May 25 09:39:51 MDT 2008

I've been pretty critical of Benson but this is utter crap.  Last I checked, Benson has never been found guilty of anything while a Chicago Bear except a damn speeding ticket.  Big frakking deal.  The boat thing sounds like it's much ado about nothing and I seriously doubt anything comes of it.  I find it extremely suspicious that the rent-a-cops wont release their audio of the incident.  That tells me they think they were in the wrong.

-----Original Message-----
From: cbff-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com [mailto:cbff-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com] On Behalf Of Tom Shannon
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 7:19 AM
To: Chicago Bears Fan Forum; Bears Talk Radio Forum
Subject: [CBFF] By keeping Benson, Bears court non-stop trouble

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mariotti/969174,mariotti052508.article

By keeping Benson, Bears court non-stop trouble

Halas Hall enablers aren't helping troubled RB avoid fall into abyss

May 25, 2008 BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist

Cedric Benson needs more than a better mugshot, a pink slip and a new
career. He needs help, immediately. Whatever disgust is in the air for
his off-field misadventures, which only exacerbate his on-field
letdowns, has been replaced by concern that we're watching a human
being unravel.

Now comes a report that he was driving 77 mph in a 45-mph construction
zone last month on the Edens Expy. Rather than crack wise about
wishing Benson would run half that fast in a Bears uniform, we should
be alarmed by his foolish disregard for a dangerous stretch of
under-repair highway at 3 a.m., also known at Halas Hall as Lance
Briggs Standard Time. I'm not sure if road workers were employed that
late. But as one who drives the Edens every day, I know how narrow and
bumpy it is and that Ced should have his brain scoped for playing
Speed Racer in his 2005 BMW through the orange signposts.

» Click to enlarge image                                                                             

[benson32web] The Benson debacle has reached point zero, plunging into
an abyss that cannot produce a happy ending.  (Tom Cruze/Sun-Times
file)

RELATED STORIES Benson fined for speeding Inside the Bears: Updates
from our blog

Of course, shortly after that, Benson followed up his Illinois episode
-- a $510 fine and four months of court supervision -- with his Texas
arrest for boating while intoxicating and resisting arrest. Whether he
was roughed up by investigating officers, as he alleges, is a matter
that will shake out in due time. But as I wrote then, Benson was wrong
to have positioned himself for trouble in a beer-stocked boat on a
party-hardy lake outside Austin. When general manager Jerry Angelo
seconded those opinions by saying, ``The thing I am most disappointed
in is the fact that he put himself in a position to be the victim,''
the Bears should have realized, once and for all, that he's hopelessly
unreliable and should be purged from the franchise.

The Benson debacle has reached point zero, after all, plunging into an
abyss that cannot produce a happy ending. The longer he's on the
roster, the more he'll drag down the Bears as an overwhelming
distraction and underwhelming running back. Last week, he returned to
Lake Forest for offseason team activities and actually impressed at
least one overly giddy writer at another newspaper with his attitude
and lighter, leaner physique. Benson blew it for me the same day, when
he openly challenged Angelo's comment.

``He'd have to explain to me how I put myself in a situation to be a
victim,'' he said. ``I was just enjoying myself, doing my own thing."

If I was Angelo, I'd have cut him on the spot, given rookie Matt Forte
the starting job, signed Shaun Alexander to a cheap contract and
announced open public tryouts. But in another act of business-first
misjudgment, the Bears continue to promote Benson as their featured
back while somehow glossing over his police-blotter appearances. Has
he raped, murdered or beat up anyone?  No. Is he destined to get in
trouble again? I'd bet my own car on it. The reason Halas Hall is so
loyal has nothing to do with common sense or a realistic hope that
Benson will break through as a star.

Simply, Angelo's professional ego and Lovie Smith's stubborn streak
are driving the continuing snafu. Because Benson was drafted No. 4 in
the first round in 2005, and because he has been paid more than $20
million so far, the Bears are desperate to prove he wasn't one of the
all-time washouts. If you're wondering why NFL owners would risk
killing their $7-billion-a-year golden goose and opt out of their
labor deal two years early, it's because of stiffs like Benson. He
received more than $16 million up front, a figure that has escalated,
incredibly, to $34.7 million for Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan as this
year's No. 3 pick. By committing so much money to Benson, Angelo and
team president Ted Phillips don't want to declare him a complete bust
until giving Benson every opportunity to show otherwise.

So, he's still your starter. I'll wait while you scream.

``There's no plans to cut him,'' Angelo said recently. ``You run with
this (the boat arrest) way too much. I'm a little surprised it's an
everyday story, but unfortunately it is, and he's having to deal with
it. What he needs to do is get himself up and going. He's fighting for
a starting position. He's hungry. He's ready to go.''

Said Smith, on the team's Web site: ``Matt Forte has never played a
down for us here. He's like all other rookies, starting from the
bottom and working his way up. Cedric was our starter last year, and
he's our starter right now. For someone else to be the starter,
they're going to have to beat him out.''

The financial pressures to stand by Benson have had a negative domino
effect. Unwilling to cut him and absorb the salary-cap blow, the Bears
chose not to seek free-agent ballcarrier Michael Turner, who signed
with Atlanta for $34 million and $15 million guaranteed. Because he
bypassed Turner, Angelo felt he had to draft Forte in the second
round, forcing him to reject two quarterbacks who could have helped in
the City of Weak Shoulders: Chad Henne and Brian Brohm.  Thus, the
Bears start the season with Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton as their own
semi-serious quarterbacks, neither of whom has much chance of avoiding
mistakes and playing quality football without a real running game.

They are willing, incredibly enough, to let Benson screw up another
season. He thanks management for its confidence, unaware that he is
receiving yet another opportunity to flop and disappoint a city in a
sport not conducive to public patience.

``I think they took me in a while back, last year," Benson said of the
favorable treatment.  ``Speaking on this (boating) situation and the
things they've had to say about it have been really great. They've
been very supportive from that fact.''

``It would be nice to have it gone and get it cleared up and over
with, but I don't really spend too much time thinking about it at
all. I'm sticking to my story, and the truth will come out sometime,
whether it be now or a year from now or whenever.''

But even if he's cleared, the fact remains Benson hasn't come close to
justifying his high draft selection. Know how rough life is for him
lately? Ricky Williams, the gifted yet wayward back who went from
burning grass to smoking it, said he wished he would have accepted
Benson's boat invite that day. ``I think if I had come down, things
might have worked out a little bit differently," Williams told the
Austin American-Statesman. ``I find I have a calming influence on
people I'm around." When Williams is more mature and grounded than
Benson, you know the Bears have issues.

Not that they haven't had trouble at the running-back position since
Neal Anderson retired 15 years ago. Curtis Enis had more personalities
than touchdowns. Rashaan Salaam had more ``a's'' in his

name than marijuana, which he admitted to using while fumbling and
busting in the mid-'90s. It was telling Friday when Salaam called out
Benson in a Sun-Times interview. ``He was the wrong person to give
money to. The Bears gave him cash, and he lost his mind,'' said
Salaam, who would know. ``He stopped working. He's not the same person
he was coming out of college. They gave it to him, and he didn't give
a damn anymore.''

If that doesn't sink in, might a scolding by Earl Campbell have a
jolting effect? A legend who preceded Benson in the Texas backfield,
Campbell said of Benson, ``I think at some point you have to stand up
and take responsibility and realize that you not only represent Cedric
Benson and the Chicago Bears and your family. It's bigger than
that. You represent the university family. You as a man should have
some pride in what you do."

Everywhere he goes, it seems, Benson has his reputation
gang-tackled. But the Bears keep extending a hand and picking him off
the ground. Know what that makes them?

His enablers.                                                                                        

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