Cedric Benson...We Hardly Knew Ye, Thank Goodness

Honestly, I don't even know where to start with this one...Oh yeah...wait...I just remembered.

When the Bears picked Benson fourth overall back in 2005, I like (most likely) half of Chicago, let out a collective groan—the best way I could express my displeasure for such a waste of a draft pick.

At the time, I questioned Jerry Angelo's motives for such a move, especially after bringing in the shifty veteran RB Thomas Jones, who was set to be the feature back of the "new look" Bears (even though their feature was focused 80 percent on defense. The other 20 percent was just from the meatball fans focusing on Rex Grossman, but that's not what this article is about).

So I'll start off simply by saying that I am a HUGE supporter of the three-strikes-and-you're-out policy. What I don't understand is this policy wasn't enacted on our friend Ced Bed. Three strikes was one year ago. These strikes were like Corey Patterson hitting a sinker in the dirt eight states away—just so blatantly pathetic.

Let me give you my strikes, and then I'll explain why this move by the Bears pleases me, but at the same time, pisses me off.

Strike One: Benson is drafted fourth overall in 2005. Being the fourth pick, he demands a ludicrous amount of money in order to sign with the Bears. The McCaskey family (being notoriously cheap, as they are) was smart in this case, and found themselves in a deadlock with Benson. Cedric says he'll hold out of training camp and all practices 'till he gets what he wants.

The Way I See It: I'm sorry Cedric, but today, you just proved to the league (again) why no rookie deserves the money they get. What have you done yet? For this case, you can also see the following: Ryan Leaf, David Carr, Tim Couch, Michael Vick (not a rookie, just ignorant), Curtis Enis, Cade McNown (Sad thing is, there are three Bears off the top of my head on this list).

Strike Two: When asked by a reporter during this holdout if it will effect his learning of the Bears' offense, and his ability to effectively run the ball, Ceddy responds by saying, "Running the football is instinctual. I know all there is to know about this game, and nobody can teach me anything else."

The Way I See It: Cedric, you did learn something from all this. .08 is the legal limit. See? You learn something new every day. Too damn bad it wasn't on the field.

Strike Three: Ceddy ignites a feud with Thomas Jones in 2006 over who should be the feature back (or the starter for you simpletons) in the offense. This leads to much rhetoric from the Chicago media about starters, and causes quite the distraction in the locker room.

The Way I See It: Mr. Benson—this was actually the best thing you've ever done for the team. You see, it pissed off Thomas Jones and made him have a career year, which in turn, helped propel the Bears to their first Super Bowl since the '85-'86 season.

It also give perennial blockhead/Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti something to write about other than Ozzie Guillen—making him, for at least five months, feel slightly more important and respected in this town than the Chicago Sky of the WNBA.

Your antics this past offseason just added to the irritation. Getting busted for being drunk on a boat in Texas only proved one thing...that law enforcement does not pay attention to football in Texas. Had they known anything, they wouldn't have had to take you down with force. All they needed to do was don a football helmet and run at you—because we know you'd have fallen down on the spot.

The DUI this past week went unknown until you just got cut.

Nobody cared, because they were sick of hearing about it.

It's one thing to hear about Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher raise a fit about their money situation—because they matter. They make an impact.

Ced, you're a scrub, and you belong in Cincinnati with all the other thugs (Sorry Carson).

Jerry Angleo made this move because there is no room for this kind of behavior on the team. Typically, there are 53 men on any roster that share the common goal of playing football through January for themselves, their team, their family, and their fans.

It's unfortunate the Bears only had 52.