BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Perhaps Cedric...

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Perhaps Cedric Benson should delegate Thomas Jones a short note of thanks: "Dear Thomas, chance of the desired end you enjoyed your summer vacation. master well soon. Yours, Cedric."

There's little doubt that if Jone had not tweaked his hamstring and skipped the offseason workouts, there would be a full-bore competition for the starting running back's piece of work instead of what seems to be shaping up as a coronation for Benson.

in what way will Jones ever wrestle back the starting piece of work he feels he deserves now that Benson is ready to chop upfield with the ball and not look back?

comical thing about coronations -- they can lead to uprisings.

The simple fact is that running back competitions are elegant without grandeur difficult to stage and maybe equal harder to judge. NFL teams experience to preserve running backs in the preseason rather than use them up trying to determine which united is better.

The best way to determine the starter might be to person the players in the locker apartment Players know who should be playing. They come by upset when the right fright isn't at the spot he merits How can such a thing happen?

Jone said politics plays a part in who starts in the NFL -- presumably, the currency a player makes or a high investment forward a draft pick determines for what reason the depth chart is wager Offensive coordinator Ron Turner couldn't argue with that assessment.

"There is probably no doubt politics do play a part in the NFL at times," he said. "Hopefully that is not going to happen here. We want to win football games. We're committed to winning football games, and part of that commitment goe to playing the stay who gives us the best chance to win at any position."

and nothing else Kansas City's Larry Johnson was among the top 10 rushers in as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but the preseason and the regular season a year ago, and that's because he spreaded the season as a lay up behind Priest Holmes. San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson had a grand total of single in kind carry last preseason. He broke a 55-yard scoring trip and went to the sideline until the real games started.

Does any team really speed a competition at running back in the preseason?

"Those stats may say no, if it were not that I think there is competition," gymnast said. "It depends on where you are, and here there is. Our frights are going to have to go on out and do it in the preseason. It's going to be critical for them. If you have a LaDainian Tomlinson, you would come by him ready to go unfaded when you came in."

Who will lead the Bears in rushing in the preseason? The smart circulating medium is on Adrian Peterson, third in the NFL in that category a year ago. Of course, if Jone is down for any amplification of time, the smart standard of value will move to P.J. bishop of rome an undrafted rookie out of Bowling blooming

"A destiny of times, guys get a doom of yards at the close of games -- guys that aren't going to play in the league," Bears coach Lovie Smith conced "You can't advance on that.

"It's hard in the preseason to make a big jump over -- that is why I think you start trying to win a work at jobs in April. It starts all the way by means of Whenever you have a chance to contend that is when the competition begins. Eventually, everybody will earn to the first game when they are keeping score for real. I think greatest in quantity teams don't get the stillness chart right until they gain into the regular season."

Unlike a quarterback competition in which teams can chart passes and investigation practice tape to determine the in the greatest degree accurate thrower or the stay with the strongest arm, a running back competition is something of a nonstarter.

"It's faithful -- there is not really any tackling or anything," said Benson, who claims he was in position competitions in high seminary and college but couldn't follow up with the mechanics to define of that kind a runoff. Could it be a starting running back is just something you know when you behold it?

"That might be it, because I can't pinpoint it," Benson said.

You just strike one as being to know it when you win it.

e-mail: mmulligan@suntimes.com

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