COMMENTARY: Cedric Benson is not-so-beloved Bear

AUSTIN, Texas — Cedric Benson is the most unpopular athlete in Chicago today, and it isn't because his pepper-sprayed mug was plastered across the front page of every major sports section and shown on every highlight show in America during the last two days.

It isn't because he's the latest Chicago Bear to run into off-the-field trouble. It isn't because he needed to fill Tank Johnson's slot on the police blotter. And he's not trying to top Oprah in the TV ratings.

There's a much simpler explanation, and it doesn't involve an arrest for boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest on a 30-foot party boat, during a routine safety check by an officer.

It involves football. Benson hasn't delivered.

And now he's not speaking publicly. I sent him a text message Monday afternoon and asked him to call me so we could discuss his arrest and his denial that he was drunk, or belligerent to the arresting officers.

He returned a one-word reply: "Tomorrow." Problem is, tomorrows aren't promised in the National Football League. It's all about today.

And Bears fans will tell you today that Cedric Benson has been a bust as a starting running back. That's why an otherwise minor incident has become a story that's not going away anytime soon.

It doesn't surprise me when a person of color has problems with law enforcement in the Austin area, given the numerous complaints alleging excessive force over the years. Benson told the Chicago Sun-Times that he wasn't intoxicated at the time of his arrest Saturday night and that he was treated roughly by officers.

We don't know exactly how it all went down, but it's easy to figure out why Benson's name is mud.

His biggest problems are more ground-related: he hasn't lived up to the potential you would expect from a No. 4 overall pick who signed a five-year, $35 million contract that included about $16 million in guaranteed money.

Three NFL seasons have produced zero Pro Bowl appearances, zero 1,000-yard seasons and a glacial, 3.4-yard rushing average last year.

He hasn't given the Bears that 1,200-yard, 15-touchdown season, and for the first time in his life, he's battling serious injuries. The next time he plays 16 regular-season games will be his first.

In league circles he's a JAG (just a guy) - not a home run threat, but a plodder who somehow lost the ability to break that first tackle.

After running roughshod over the competition for most of his football life, Benson has a pedestrian 1,593 yards rushing yards in 35 career games. That's a hideous number compared with the one-season output of former Oklahoma Sooner Adrian Peterson - the seventh pick in the 2007 draft - who ran for 1,341 yards in 14 games during his rookie season with Minnesota.

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo has indicated that Benson might not be a featured back in 2008 - good news to Chicago fans who are upset that Benson hasn't made them forget Thomas Jones, who averaged 1,164 yards over three season before he was let go in free agency.

That decision stung even more after Jones ran for another 1,100 yards for the 4-12 New York Jets last season.

Production. Consistent production. The Bears still want that production, and they will find it, with Benson or without him.

They selected a running back (Tulane's Matt Forte) in the second round of last month's draft and sent Benson a clear message: Yards are more important than yachts. Here's hoping Benson's upcoming court date will be his last. Let's hope he's not going down the same road as his idol, first-round draft pick Ricky Williams, who lost prime earning years to his substance- use problems.

A couple of 1,500-yard seasons, and Benson's prior troubles will disappear faster than a ticket on Bill Gates' windshield in a Microsoft parking garage. If Benson delivers, production will replace potential, and his tomorrows will become todays.

Cedric Golden writes for the Austin American-Statesman.