Benson has already stated that he passed the field sobriety tests and informed press that when the camera footage taken by the police squad car is released, we can all see that he was not drunk.  It just seems like a hard pill to swallow after Benson was involved in similar squabbling of police misinformation from his boating arrest.  You want to believe Benson but the whole thing sounds like too much coincidence.  Meanwhile, Benson’s credibility is quickly deteriorating in the public eye.

Benson claims he had a single alcoholic drink and later his attorney stated he may have had a couple, but police reports indicate the running back looked too drunk to stand.  Regardless of whether Benson really was over the legal limit, what was he thinking?  A man that was just starting to escape the persecution of his first arrest promptly returns to Texas and gets arrested again for alcohol?  It was within reason to ask fans to sympathize with having a few drinks on a boat with family, but now Benson has to ask for understanding that he was driving drunk, alone, and dangerously. 

I wrote a while ago that I was willing to forgive Benson for his boating actions but he needed to make better choices about the situations he enters.  This gives every indication that Benson is making poor choices in his personal life that are going to interfere with his professional life.  He not only put his own life in danger, a stupid move for a person that is paid solely on his physical ability, but put other people in danger.  It’s dumb, irresponsible, and has made the decision for the Bears much easier or tougher depending on how you look at it. 

The Bears are currently hosting an Expo for fans to interact with the team and General Manager Jerry Angelo has been heard expressing his extreme displeasure with Benson.  If Benson’s future with the team was in jeopardy before, his head is in the guillotine now.  The problem is a few months ago I suggested the Bears go out and get free agent running back Dominic Rhodes.  Rhodes has agreed to return to the Indianapolis Colts and leaves the Bears with few options.  I would rather see the Bears go with a tandem of Matt Forte and Adrian Peterson rather than sign an aging back like Shaun Alexander. 

The Bears organization have given every indication that they are prepared to move on with Benson.  The word out of OTA’s is Bears coaches are in love with Matt Forte.  Offensive staff have called him an every-down back, lots of talant, ability to make plays on the field, virtually the anti-Benson.  It appears the Bears are inching closer to accepting the idea of putting rookie running back Matt Forte in the backfield as starting running back.  They may choose to split his playing time with Benson if he stays around or Peterson.  Either way, I think you can count on Forte seeing a larger bulk of playing time than originally anticipated.  He may not be a bad sleeper pick to queue on your fantasy draft. 

As for Benson, maybe he can open up a bar in Amsterdam with Ricky Williams and talk about the good old college days in Texas. 

Chicago Bears

My initial reaction was, rookie running back Matt Forte may now have a good shot at becoming the starting running back for the Chicago Bears.  My second reaction was my plea for the Bears to sign running back Dominic Rhodes may not be too far off at this point.  I was also a little curious how a person goes about passing a field sobriety test aboard a boat, but I digress. 

If Benson showed a little of the fire on the football field that he showed against a river authority officer, perhaps his starting job wouldn’t be at risk.  Benson will go down the road of several NFL players and most of the Cincinnati Bengals roster by measuring up their current arrest with their record. 

In 2002, he was arrested on misdemeanor drug and alcohol charges, but they were dropped.  In 2003, he was arrested for misdemeanor trespassing for reportedly breaking into an apartment to look for a stolen TV and was sentenced to eight days in jail.  The weight the Court system and the NFL puts on his previous arrests and his current arrest remains to be seen. 

Benson was released from jail today on a $14,500 bond.  The charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest are both Class B Misdemeanors carrying a possible 6 months jail time a piece and a $2,000 fine. 

I doubt Benson will see much, if any, jail time in the matter.  His biggest concern will be with the NFL and the Chicago Bears, who are both exercising a zero tolerance policy.  The NFL may hand down a suspension for a game or more and coach Lovie Smith is not going to happy with this news.  The Chicago Bears had troubles with defensive tackle Tank Johnson’s arrest for gun charges and he was released from the team.  He resigned with the Dallas Cowboys but had to serve a league suspension.  If the Bears release Benson, I doubt many teams would jump to sign the under achieving running back. 

With Shaun Alexander and Dominic Rhodes available there isn’t a need for the Bears to make a trade for a running back.  Shaun Alexander is in the twilight of his career and seems content to play in Cincinnati.  The best bet would be to sign Rhodes to give some competition at the position.  It is a possibility the Bears could try to compete with a running back tandem of Matt Forte, Adrian Peterson, and Garrett Wolfe, but it wouldn’t do much to solidify the running game.  Splitting carries between Forte and Peterson could be productive but it relies on Forte to make an immediate impact and Peterson to carry the load.  I’ve felt for a long time that Peterson deserves a shot at starting running back, but the NFL has shown that successful teams have a two-running back system.  The learning curve for Forte just became very steep.

As for Cedric Benson, his lackluster career could be coming to an end in Chicago.  It would probably be the best situation for a team that has become frustrated with their franchise running back that never matured and a player criticized for his every game.  It would probably do both sides good to get a change of scenery. 

You were signed for the Raiders for $1.75 million?  If you crash at my place that should save you some dough, and I can throw together a pot of mac and cheese once in a while, so that should bring it down to about $1.5 million right?  Considering you’ve rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season that’s a huge upgrade from the running back situation we have in Chicago right now.  The best part is you’ll only have to share carries with Benson until he gets injured, which will probably happen in training camp when he ties his shoelaces too tight and ruptures a tendon.

Wouldn’t it be great to be the starting Bears running back?  Look what it did to Thomas Jones‘ career and scored him a huge contract in New York.  We just drafted a huge tackle to solidify our line and give you good running lanes.  Lord knows we can’t throw the ball, just look at our quarterback and wide receiver situation.  You could totally become a fantasy stud and be loved by middle-aged men bored at work across the world.

I hear you had to sit out 4 games last season due to abusing the NFL substance abuse policy, let’s not make that a habit.  You can drink anything that’s in the fridge, I pretty much only buy water, juice, and coke so that should keep you out of trouble.  Don’t get any funny ideas about the coke, I mean the polar bear kind, not the flying unicorn kind.  Plus you’d be making the jump from the highly competitive AFC to the wide open pastures of the NFC where anything is possible.  Any team with determination and a complete ignorance of their glaring weakness can reach the Super Bowl.  Refer to the NFC representative in the Super Bowl for about the last 5 years for an example.  Sometimes they actually win the game too!

So come on over to Chicago, I’ll make the guest bed and wash the sheets first cause your VIP like that.  You’ll be named the starting running back after about the time you get done running out on to the field for the first practice and show us what a 1,000 yard rushing season looks like up close.  I’ll start making some mac and cheese.