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Monday, Oct. 26, 2009

Bengals rout Bears 45-10

5 TD passesfrom Palmer,189 yards from Benson

CINCINNATI — Thanks to Carson Palmer, Cedric Benson, Chad Ochocinco and pals, the Cincinnati Bengals made the Chicago Bears look like nothing close to Monsters of the Midway at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday.

Cincinnati scored six touchdowns and a field goal on its first seven possessions en route to a 45-10 spanking.

Palmer passed for 233 yards and five touchdowns. Benson ran for a career-high 189 yards and a TD. Ochocinco had 10 receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

Coach Marvin Lewis was pleased to see his team's "first complete football game" of the season.

Everything the Bengals tried met with success.

"The coaches had a lot of great ideas," said Bob Bratkowski, Cincinnati's offensive coordinator. "It was just a matter of us putting them together and finding the right time to do them. ... When the players execute the way they did, you can call just about anything and it's going to work."

As good as the offense was, so was the Bengals defense.

"We were in (quarterback Jay) Cutler's face all day and, when you get in his face, he's going to have some mistakes," tackle Domata Peko said. "And we kept (running back Matt) Forte bundled up, and we did a great job today."

Dhani Jones, Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph had seven tackles each. Jones had two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Hall had two interceptions. Chris Crocker had one pick, forced a fumble and made four tackles.

The Bengals had 30 first downs (five off the team record) to Chicago's 15; 448 yards to 279, including 215-35 rushing; and a 4-0 advantage in turnovers. Cincinnati even won its lone coach's challenge, and Chicago lost its try.

"The Chicago Bears should never lose a football game like that," Coach Lovie Smith said. "It was a tough day at the office for us."

The 45 points are the most scored by the Bengals in nine games against the Bears. The previous high of 31 came in 1992. Sunday, the Bengals led 31-3 at halftime.

Cincinnati (5-2) goes into its bye week atop the AFC North with Pittsburgh.

Palmer's touchdown passes covered 9 yards to Chris Henry, 8 to Ochocinco, 3 to J.P. Foschi, 8 to Laveranues Coles and 13 to Ochocinco. Chicago (3-3) had allowed only six TD passes in its first five games.

What was it like to watch Palmer in such a groove?

"I couldn't watch because I was running routes," Ochocinco said. "But I hear he looked good."

Palmer, who didn't play after Benson scored on the first play of the fourth quarter, has thrown at least three touchdown passes in each game while going 6-0 against NFC North opponents.

"The running game set everything up," said Palmer, who threw for six touchdowns in 2007 at Cleveland. "We got Ced off to a nice start, and the pocket was good all day."

Palmer finished 20-for-24 and a career-best passer rating of 146.7.

Benson, playing against the team that released him last year, carried 37 times.

"It had been an emotional week coming into this one," said Benson, whose previous best rushing total of 172 yards came last December at Cleveland. "It had been the 'Benson Bowl' and things like that.

"I didn't want to seek revenge. It wasn't a goal of mine. That's not how I wanted to respond to the day or playing against them. I just wanted to take advantage of my opportunities."

Bengals tackle Tank Johnson, who also was released by the Bears, seconded that.

"We just want to win a football game," he said. "There's personal stuff in there but, at the end of the day, you want to win for your team because that's who you committed to. It was a good game for us."

After two punts and two turnovers, Chicago scored on the final play of the half. Robbie Gould's 22-yard field goal cut the lead to 31-3.

Chicago's touchdown, a 5-yard pass from Cutler to Devin Hester, came with 11:48 left.

Cutler finished 26-for-37 and 251 yards. Hester had eight catches for 101 yards. Forte ran six times for 24 yards.

"The coaches and players are embarrassed," Cutler said. To get down 21-0, then 28-0 ... the guys were still fighting, but it just wasn't ... we were missing some crucial things."