Bengals, Benson Embarrass Bears 45-10
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Oct 26, 2009 3:00PM
Well, that was ugly.
The Bears went into Cincinnati looking to bounce back after last week's loss to Atlanta. Instead, the Bears imploded and played perhaps their worst game of the Lovie Smith Era -- losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 45-10 on Sunday afternoon in embarrasing fashion.
The Bears were unable to do anything right on Sunday while the Bengals seemingly could do no wrong. On the game's first possession, Cincy marched 77 yards down the field and scored a TD. They did the same on each of their next three possessions, too, against a shorthanded Bears defense. Meanwhile, the Bears punted twice and turned the ball over twice, falling behind 28-0. The Bears' defense "limited" the Bengals to a field goal on their fifth turn with the ball, before the offense managed to add a field goal of their own to get on the board before halftime. After intermission, the Bengals picked up where they'd begun, finding the end zone twice more while picking off a pair of Jay Cutler passes. The Bears' offense didn't locate the end zone until the fourth quarter, which cut their deficit from seven touchdowns to a mere six.
Since many billed this match-up as the "Benson Bowl," how did Bears cast-off Cedric Benson play against his old team? Apparently with more than just a chip on his shoulder, Benson managed to rush for a career-best 189 yards on 37 carries -- enough yards for him to claim the NFL lead in rushing yards away from the Viking's Adrian Peterson. And Chad Ochocinco, who trashed talked all week on Twitter, backed up his boasts and then some by catching 10 passes for 118 yards and two TDs. Carson Palmer threw more TD passes (five) than he had incompletions (four).
The Bear looked utterly unprepared on both side of the ball for their game this week. "I didn't have my team ready to go this week," coach Lovie Smith said in the understatement of the year. Next Sunday, the Bears (3-3, third place in the NFC North) can try and right the ship as they host the 1-6 Cleveland Browns. If the Bears believe they're truly a good team, they'll have to find a way to do the Browns what the Bengals did to them. If we see anything less than that from this team, the playoffs are not a realistic goal this year.