From the Chicago Sun-Times’ Chris De Luca.

Now that the Bears’ 2005 season is over, it’s a good time to wonder who will win the running back derby for 2006.

Will it be Thomas Jones, who was a bright spot for an otherwise shaky offense, or Cedric Benson, a flashy first-round pick whose training-camp holdout proved to be enormously costly?

”I really don’t know. I can’t look too far into the future and make decisions on things I can’t control,” Benson said after the Bears’ 29-21 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. ”What I can control is my actions and my preparation going into next season.

”I just know for a fact that when my name is called, when my number is called, you’re going to see some plays made.”

With CSTB’s AFC and NFC faves elminated these past two weeks, you might suspect I have no remaining rooting interest to speak of. However, in a display of pathetic front-runnerism not seen since Phil Collins forsook QPR in favor of Chelsea, I am very eager to see Pittsburgh and Seattle advance next weekend. I just can’t fucking stand the idea of two QB’s named Jake facing each other in a Super Bowl. It’s wrong on so many levels.