Trampled in the Jungle: Bengals beat Bears 45-10

It was starting to seem as if the Bears could be just fine without the face of the franchise, Brian Urlacher, out for the season. But all of that optimism went away when the Cincinnati Bengals scored six touchdowns on their first seven offensive possessions on the Chicago Bears, resulting in a 45-10 defeat for the Monsters of the Midway.

The big story of the game was the play of former Bears running back Cedric Benson, who had a career day with 189 yards rushing and a touchdown. Even though the game was out of reach late in the fourth quarter, Benson was still in the game, hammering the ball down the Bears’ mouth. This clearly seemed to be an “I told you so” statement from Benson to the Bears. Not only did Benson have a career day against the Chicago defense, but also quarterback Carson Palmer did as well by throwing for five touchdowns. And Chad Ochocinco backed up his statements that he said to the media by hauling in 10 receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns (along with a Samba dance in the end zone). The defense didn’t have an answer to anything the Bengals threw at them. For the first time this season, Chicago’s defense didn’t produce a takeaway, and for the second consecutive game, the Bears didn’t register a sack.

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It wasn’t just the defense that didn’t show up. Chicago’s offense couldn’t get anything going at any point of the game, except for early in the fourth quarter when Jay Cutler connected with Devin Hester for a touchdown—but by that time it didn’t even matter. Many Bears fans thought that Cutler’s recent contract extension would have given him a reason to play well, but the three interceptions that he threw proved otherwise. Playing catch-up early in the second quarter, the running game was almost nonexistent, with the Bears only rushing the ball 12 times the entire game for a total of 35 yards. The only bright spot for Chicago was the play of Hester, who had his first career 100-yard receiving performance off eight receptions.

With two disappointing loses in the last two weeks on the road, the Chicago Bears will be in the comfort of their own home when they host the 1-6 Cleveland Browns. The struggling Browns couldn’t have come at a better time for Lovie Smith and the Bears. Facing one of the NFL’s worst teams just might be what they need to give them their swagger back.

By Clyde Speller
ProFootball-fans.com Chicago Bears Correspondent