--Contrary to published reports, the Bears are not upset with running back Cedric Benson; and the fourth overall draft pick from 2005 wasn't sulking after Sunday's game when he didn't get on the field.

"I know I wasn't pouting, come on, that's not me," Benson said. "You really think I was sitting on the sideline whining about not playing after a win like that? No. I was very excited about the win. I was excited to be a part of a team like that, having a quarterback like that."

Benson was one of the first to congratulate quarterback Rex Grossman on his game-winning TD pass with 1:53 left, but after the game he walked off the field without showing much emotion, which is understandable for a player who didn't get to contribute to the victory.

"Naturally you wanted to be a part of it," Benson said. "Dang, yeah, it sucks that I didn't get to play. But hey, we won. I'm able to get up every morning and come into this building every day and work hard every day knowing that the sail is going to turn. I know it will, and I'm just going to be patient on that and let it work itself out and make great things happen when it does turn."

Neither Benson nor starter Thomas Jones has had much success this season. Benson is averaging 2.8 yards per carry, while Jones is at 3.0 with 181 yards on 60 carries.

Benson carried 11 times in the season opener, when the Bears rushed 36 times, and he got 10 of the team's 34 carries the following week. Jones carried 21 times in each of the first two weeks. But the Bears had only 21 running plays Sunday, and 3 of them were kneel-downs by quarterback Rex Grossman. The dearth of running plays was the only reason Benson didn't play according to coach Lovie Smith.

"There is some inaccurate information coming out of here about Cedric Benson," Smith said. "I just would like our fans to know that Cedric Benson practiced very well last week. He's doing everything that we've asked him to do. He's a big part of what we're going to do around here. I couldn't be more pleased with how he's handling playing behind a good player in Thomas Jones. Hopefully this week we'll get him some more playing time. He had another excellent practice (Wednesday)."

--Bears cornerback Ricky Manning on Wednesday discussed publicly his version of the events that led to him being accused of felony assault in a Denny's restaurant April 24. Manning pleaded no contest on Tuesday and was sentenced to three years' probation, ordered to attend a year of anger management counseling and to complete 100 hours of community service with a municipality or public agency or nationally recognized philanthropic organization not associated with the Bears.

Manning, Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew and Tyler Ebell -- all former UCLA football players -- were accused of attacking the man near the UCLA campus, kicking and punching him in the face until he lost consciousness. That's not the story Manning told.

"I said, 'What are you doing on this (laptop) computer?' " Manning said he asked the victim. "He responded to me aggressively. He told me to go (blank) myself. I didn't understand why he did that. I came to find out later, the guys that he got into it with were messing with him when he was on the computer before I got there.

"So I got in the guy's face and told him, 'Don't talk to me like that,' and I did push him in the face. The (restaurant manager) came over there and said, 'Do you want me to call the police?' I said, 'No I'm just going to leave.' I left it at that. I walked away from the situation. Maybe I shouldn't have responded to it at all."

The three former teammates left the restaurant in an SUV but were pulled over by police when their vehicle was spotted from a helicopter. The assault charge against Jones-Drew was dismissed in June because of insufficient evidence. Ebell's felony assault charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, and he was freed on bail.

Manning claims his plea wasn't an admission of guilt but a way of avoiding potentially bigger problems. He was already on probation for a similar misdemeanor offense in 2002, also near the UCLA campus.

"If I don't plead to this, I have to go to trial during the season," he said. "It would be a lot more money, and then I would have to put it in the hands of a jury. I've been through this before. There's a ton of things that can happen with a jury. They can say that I conspired with those other guys and because of my involvement this guy got beat up. I just can't risk that. I would rather put it all in my hands, be on probation, keep my nose clean and not get in any trouble."

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo called the incident "embarrassing" and said he was "disappointed" with Manning's involvement.

"It is embarrassing that I have to go through this," Manning said. "I feel embarrassed. I feel embarrassed for the team. I feel embarrassed for the guys upstairs also. I was accused of something. It's still kind of a little unfair because I'm still being punished like I did do it."

The concern now is that the NFL could still come down on Manning with a suspension, despite his plea.

"We all know the rules, and the rules say the NFL will handle those types of situations," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "We would like to say that if there is punishment, let's do it at this point. If something comes up from there, we're prepared to go on without him."

--Poor time management cost the Bears a chance for a 41-yard FG attempt at the end of the first half as time expired after Muhsin Muhammad's 23-yard reception.

The play began with 17 seconds left, but the Bears couldn't stop the clock. They had spent their first timeout when John Tait, who had suffered an elbow injury, was slow getting on the field for Gould's 41-yard field goal in the first quarter. Less than 90 seconds later they used timeout No. 2 on an unsuccessful challenge of an official's ruling on the field. The third and final timeout was used earlier on the final possession.

"There are a lot of things I would like to do differently," Coach Lovie Smith said. "I didn't like the way we handled the end of the first half (and) some of the decisions I made with that. We got the win, but there are a lot of things I need to improve on and (so does) our football team."

--The Bears have yet to average more than 3.0 yards per rushing attempt in any game this season and are averaging 2.7 yards for the season, a precipitous drop from last season's 4.3-yard average. But quarterback Rex Grossman is averaging 276 passing yards per game, a huge improvement over 2005's 125 per.

"As a defense, you can commit to stopping one thing, and teams have committed to stopping our run, and they've done a pretty good job of it," coach Lovie Smith said. "But we're 3-0 with them doing that."

BY THE NUMBERS
QB Rex Grossman has thrown for more than 260 yards in each of his three starts this season, although he hadn't done it once in his first three seasons.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I have total confidence in what he can do out there. He plays like a warrior out there, a really courageous guy. When he's under pressure, you can tell how relaxed he is out there. He doesn't panic." -- WR Muhsin Muhammad on QB Rex Grossman

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