Benson still has no love for Bears
By TOM MUSICK -- Shaw Suburban Media
LAKE FOREST – Bears coach Lovie Smith responded sharply Wednesday after Cedric Benson suggested that the Bears blackballed his career upon his release in June 2008.
Benson, 26, spent more than three months out of football after two alcohol-related arrests led the Bears to cut him. He eventually signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, who face the Bears on Sunday afternoon.
“I heard all the rumors that were said coming out of Chicago,” Benson said during a conference call with reporters at Halas Hall. “Even the Bengals told me all the things, that they would call and inquire about me and get nothing but negative things.”
Benson said his work ethic was a common target. He did not say which Bears officials criticized him, although he said he never had the support of the team’s offensive coaches.
“[They said] that I didn’t work hard, that I was a ‘prima donna’ or I didn’t work hard on the field, just wasn’t focused,” Benson said. “Anything negative that they could say, it was said. I’m sure that contributed largely to me not getting picked up right away.”
Smith denied Benson’s claims. He acknowledged that he recommended Benson during a conversation with friend and Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis early last season.
“He was not blackballed by anyone in our organization,” Smith said. “If anything, when a player decides to leave here or is cut from here, we do everything we possibly can to help them go somewhere else. That was the case with Ced.”
In six games this season, Benson has surged. He is third in the NFL with 531 rushing yards while displaying a bruising, north-south running style that made him the fourth overall pick by the Bears in the 2005 draft.
“I can’t put it into words how good it feels,” Benson said. “This is what I worked for. This is what I dreamed about when I dreamed of being a professional player. Dreams are coming true."
Then why was his time with the Bears such a nightmare?
“I don’t know,” Benson said. “Maybe here, they wanted it to work.”
At times, Benson said, he wondered why the Bears drafted him so high when they already had Thomas Jones instilled at running back. He said his rookie-year holdout might have soured his relationship with teammates, although he called that logic “ridiculous.”
“I think there was once upon a time where I would like to have known the answer," Benson said. "But now it kind of doesn’t really matter anymore.”
