by Bill Rabinowitz, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH , The Columbus Dispatch

Benson spent three tumultuous seasons with the Bears after he was selected with the fourth pick of the 2005 draft. He disappointed on the field and got into minor off-field scrapes before Chicago cut him last season. This week, he accused the Bears of trying to blackball him from finding another team.

But after running through and around his former team, Benson tried not to gloat.

"I tried to make it a point throughout the week not to get too emotional coming into this game," he said. "Revenge was not a goal of mine."

His teammates concurred that Benson tried to downplay the personal element during preparations.

"Ced is always an even-keeled quiet guy," guard Bobbie Williams said. "He was even that way this week. But you could tell it was kind of brewing inside of him."

Limited to 44 yards last week by Houston, Benson gained 70 in the first quarter yesterday and topped 100 before halftime.

He got into the end zone for the Bengals' sixth touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.

"It was huge because everyone was scoring touchdowns but me," he joked.

When Benson left the game with 10 minutes left, Bengals fans gave him a standing ovation.

However, because of apparently minor knee injuries to backup Bernard Scott and fullback Jeremi Johnson -- third-down back Brian Leonard was inactive -- Benson had to return to the game.

He said he didn't engage in much talking with his former teammates.

"Not at all," Benson said. "We are friends on the field and off. In a way, I think a lot of those guys were happy for me."

After the game, several Bears hugged Benson. Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith was not among them.

"Yes, I really wanted to say hello to Lovie, but he shook Marvin (Lewis') hand and ran off," Benson said. "It would have been really nice to look him in the eyes again and say thank you.

\ Defense bounces back

The Bengals' defense played badly last week for the first time this season. Yesterday, it made amends.

"It hurt bad," safety Chris Crocker said of last week's struggles. "When you're trying to get to the playoffs, you beat the teams you're supposed to beat."

Crocker said the improvement yesterday came down to executing the basics.

"Tackle, cover, run, catch," he said. "Nothing fancy."

He said the Bengals did stress taking away the screen pass, a staple of the Bears' offense. That left Cutler to throw downfield. Blessed with a strong arm, Cutler also is prone to mistakes. Cincinnati pressured him throughout the game and intercepted him three times.

brabinowitz@dispatch.com

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