BIG NUMBERS: CEDRIC'S PARTING GIFTS
(WITH A BONUS CLIP REEL)

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In retrospect "stretching" may look more like "laying down on the job" to Bears fans.

Cedric Benson isn't alone, really. The Bears do quarterback and running back busts the way their fans tailgate: with aplomb no matter wins or weather. As well, the NFL often produces some weird numbers when it comes to cash-made versus production, but that's almost always because of a combination of freak injuries and general weirdness. (See: Rogers, Charles)

And then there's Benson, who basically publicly partied his way out of Chicago. A star at Midland High School and one of the most decorated Longhorns ever, Benson will now be permanently mentioned in the same Windy City breath as fellow flops Rashaan Salaam and Curtis Enis. But the best (or saddest) part is this:

Benson ends his Bears career with 420 carries for 1,593 yards and 10 touchdowns in 35 games. But it started even better. He originally signed a five-year contract—after a nasty 36-day holdout, don't forget—guaranteeing him about $17 million. In a modern sense, his deal is almost Bosworthian in terms of nausea-inducing numbers. An example:

His totals work out to $40,476 per carry, $10,672 per yard, and a comical $1.7 million per touchdown.

No wonder he kept getting into trouble on the party-friendly waters of Lake Travis. Every time Benson took a handoff, he earned enough money to buy 1,948 12-packs of Shiner Bock down at UT. The Lower Colorado River Authority can't just ignore that intoxicating statistic.

Other numbers weren't so impressive. Benson didn't break off a single run longer than 20 yards this past season until Week 11, when he rumbled 43 all the way to paydirt against the Seahawks. Yet that rush alone gave him the cash necessary to purchase a quartet of 2008 BMW Alpina B7s—do they make those in burnt orange?—at $115,000 a pop, the perfect vehicle for blowing through stop lights an hour or two after last call. He would not, however, have much left to hire a driver, which might come in handy.

One-point-seven million bucks per TD. That's 68,273 visits to the physical therapist to help recover from all those knee sprains and fractured ankles. Or a lifetime supply of crocheted tams to take care of those precious dreadlocks, the same dreads he shaved off before the combine to avoid inevitable comparisons to the similarly strange Ricky Williams.

It turns out Benson is nothing like Williams after all: Ricky Williams, you see, has been to a Pro Bowl.

"Cedric displayed a pattern of behavior we will not tolerate," general manager Jerry Angelo said upon Benson's release. "As I said this past weekend, you have to protect your job. Everyone in this organization is held accountable for their actions. When individual priorities overshadow team goals, we suffer the consequences as a team. Those who fail to understand the importance of 'team' will not play for the Chicago Bears."

But not to worry, Bears fans. At least Matt Forte, a rookie drafted in Round 2 and the heir apparent in the Chicago backfield, didn't cry on draft day.

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"Thoooose were the daaays."

The above assessment begs the question: whaddup with talented Texas Longhorns running backs not translating to the pros completely? Ricky Williams was awesome in Austin; he's had good pro years, but it's ultimately not what he's known for. (Yea, we loved Eric Metcalf and Priest Holmes) ESPN the Mag video expert Teddy Bauer takes a minute now, via Clip Reel, to celebrate what Cedric could do on the field—with a hope that he's doing it again real soon, with less problems off it.

Here's the entire Cedric Benson video collection on NFL.Com. Some pretty gnarly runs the last two seasons, actually.

Nice rip of his Austin highlights.

Another good rip.

FOX News tees off on Benson.

Nice Benson TD against the Cowboys last year.

27 seconds of Benson dominating in high school.

Apparently, this was Benson's first NFL TD.

Pretty nasty play from Vince Young to Cedric when they were both at Texas.

Cedric's Wiki.

Cedric's Pro Football Reference splits.

His official bio archived on the UT fan site.

Sadly, Lovie Smith had him ready to start this year.

Good aggregated article collection on Benson from NFL.Com.

Similarly, a photo gallery on NFL.Com.

His Scout page.

John Crist is the Publisher of Bear Report Magazine.

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