Thomas Jones Trade.

The assessment made by ColonelConclusive for Benson may have been a very similar one given to Thomas Jones until he got to the Bears. Benson had a couple of injuries, but to say that he is frail is a bit premature. I believe that he never missed a game while he was at Texas. My guess is that Benson will start the same number of games or more next year than Thomas Jones. I believe to give too much credit to Jones for his running last year is a disservice to the offensive line. Statistically, both runners averaged 4.1 yards per carry. I see no reason why this will not continue or improve the coming year. Benson would hardly be the reason the Bears would not win at least 10 games in each of the next two years. The only way this would happen is if Brian Urlacher gets injured. The Packers aquisition or lack of aquisition for one Randy Moss will not affect the Bears whatsoever.

Although I understand your sentiments for Cedric Benson, they may be as misguided as your premonition for the Bears success given Urlacher's health. Urlacher is not that good! Lance Briggs is better, and I'd be willing to bet his statistics over the last couple years will illustrate this. The Bears offensive line is remarkable, I'll give you that, for if it wasn't, Bears fans would see how bad Rex Grossman really is. Urlacher gets alot of hype due to his d-line in front of him. If they weren't as good as they were, he wouldn't have open lanes to apply tackles. He is a good closer though, but in the open field, 1 on 1, I'll take the guy with the ball as the one that has the advantage (hmmm, can you say Tom Brady...faking Urlacher out of his shorts? Benson is only as good as he is (and it ain't all that) again because of his line. He lacks the speed to break away from would-be tacklers, and he's not a smart enough back to create his own holes. On top of it all, he could be the biggest whiner on the Bears. So again, I'll state he is frail, both physically and mentally. The Bears face an extremely tough schedule next year, both at home and away. If they didn't play my beloved Lions twice/year, and the almost as bad Minnesota Vikings twice, they might be looking at a 5 win at most season. Regardless, it'll still be poetic justice in comparison with the cupcake schedule they faced this year. Other than the Patriots they didn't play a real team until they got to the SuperBowl. New Orleans was good, but in those conditions...no, God was on their side this year, much like he was when the White Sox won it. And Randy going to the Packers, ahh, they'd pass all over the Bears, Vikes, and Lions, and easily take the division.