Really running with it

Nothing since the Chicago Bears’ loss in Super Bowl XLI has been more wrong than the handling of the backfield, and it will be on display this afternoon in the NFL playoffs’ wild-card round as the New York Jets ride a career-best season from Thomas Jones into Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium to face Cedric Benson and the Bengals.

The pair who combined for 1,857 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Bears in 2006 has flourished, and now the trade of Jones to the Jets in order to move up in the second round of the 2007 draft looks worse than the selection of Benson (fourth overall in 2005).

With 3,833 yards, Jones is second to Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson in rushing over the last three seasons. He had 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns this season in an offense run by rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.

Despite missing three games, Benson rushed for a career-high 1,251 yards to help the Bengals win the AFC North. He had a season-high 189 yards vs. the Bears in Week 7.

Jones and Benson couldn’t coexist and Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo had to trade away Jones, who was seeking a new contract before the 2007 draft, in order to clear a starting role for Benson. By then, Benson had lost the faith of his teammates.

Those are some of the poor decisions that have led to the Bears’ missing the postseason for three straight seasons. And Jones and Benson aren’t the only good backs to leave. Lousaka Polite, cut before the start of 2008, was a Pro Bowl alternate in Miami this year.

Now that they are apart and playing well, Benson insists the two running backs would be a great 1-2 punch.

“He’s good on his feet, good in the open field,” Benson told reporters in Cincinnati. “I’m a lot downhill. We’d complement each other really [well]. I’m sure a few people saw that in Chicago.

“There was some disagreement, I think, largely for [Jones]. He had been on different teams and I think on those teams in a situation similar where a guy came in. In Chicago, I guess he saw the same situation recurring. I don’t think so much it was toward me, it was toward the situation.

“It indirectly [spurred] a bad situation, a controversy between us. Now that we’re both not on their team and in different places and he’s doing great in New York and I’m doing well here, we were able to put all of that behind us and be cool.”

bbiggs@tribune.com