Thomas Jones' praise hits Chicago's Cedric Benson

CHICAGO (AP) _ Thomas Jones had reason to throw around the praise as if he were a quarterback, considering the Chicago Bears are a win from their first Super Bowl in 21 years. <br/><br/>One of his targets,

Saturday, January 20th 2007, 6:26 am

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) _ Thomas Jones had reason to throw around the praise as if he were a quarterback, considering the Chicago Bears are a win from their first Super Bowl in 21 years.

One of his targets, however, was a bit of a surprise: Cedric Benson.

While heaping compliments on the Bears' system, Jones dropped some on his fellow running back on Friday. Suddenly, a relationship that seems icy may be thawing.

A little, anyway.

As the Bears made final preparations for Sunday's NFC championship game against New Orleans, Jones said he's fine with sharing the load at running back. In fact, he appreciates having a capable complement.

``Any running back likes getting the ball 20, 25 times a game,'' Jones said. ``At the end of the day, you want to win football games. And this system has helped us this year, as far as keeping Cedric Benson and myself fresh. ... It gives you an opportunity to wear a defense down in the third, fourth quarter of a football game, when the defensive line and linebackers are tired.''

It's a system that helped the Bears go 13-3 during the regular season, capture the top seed in the NFC and beat Seattle 27-24 in overtime last week after earning a first-round bye. All they have to do is stop the NFL's No. 1 offense, which means keeping Drew Brees and his cohorts off the field, right? And that means the Bears' offense will be conservative, right?

Not quite.

``We're not going to hold the ball,'' quarterback Rex Grossman said. ``That doesn't make sense to me.''

Still, the Bears will try to get Jones involved. Benson, too. And Jones welcomes the help.

``As the season goes along, if you're a featured back, it's natural your body's going to wear down a little bit,'' said Jones, who rushed for 1,210 yards during the regular season. ``If you have another guy who can come in and make plays and offset how you run at the same time, that's great for your football team. It's been great for us.''

Benson and Jones are locker room neighbors, but they're rarely seen joking together. Their relationship has seemed strained almost from the moment the Bears took Benson with the fourth pick in the 2005 draft. Benson has made it clear that he wants to be the No. 1 running back, but his tenure has been shaky.

He missed all of the 2005 preseason because of a lengthy contract negotiation, was used sparingly early that year and missed six games because of a knee injury. He and Jones were expected to compete for the starting job this season, but that never really happened because both got hurt in training camp. Benson also left the sideline during a preseason game and missed a mandatory meeting afterward.

While Jones settled back in as the No. 1 ball carrier after rushing for 1,335 yards last year, Benson ran for 647 but at times seemed chained to the sideline early in the season. That changed over the final seven regular-season games, when he averaged 62 yards.

All four teams playing this weekend rely on more than one running back, and for the Bears, Benson provides the power and Jones the finesse. Jones, meanwhile, is a better blocker.

``They're both great backs,'' Grossman said. ``Thomas is an experienced veteran. He does a great job in pass protection, catches the ball well, and can make people miss. He has great vision, and Cedric ... goes right at you, pounds you, knocks people over. The combination of those two guys gives us a great one-two punch.''