Fox Sports and Football Outsiders continue their rankings of the NFL teams. They are moving onto the running backs and mostly Benson's recent injury history brings the Bears in at #20.
Cedric Benson was effective in his role last season, finishing 10th amongst running backs in DVOA and 18th by DPAR (on only 157 carries). There were concerns about Benson's durability after enduring a heavy workload at Texas, and while Benson's looked every bit an excellent running back when he's been healthy, he's suffered three injuries in two seasons and until he proves that he can remain healthy for a 16-game schedule on the professional level, he and the Bears can't be much higher than this. Backup "The Other" Adrian Peterson is a FO-favorite for his work in limited play (his 25.8 percent DVOA was first in the league in 2005) and his special teams performance; the former Division I-AA star isn't someone who can be given 300 carries, but he could be a very valuable property with 100 well-chosen attempts.
I suppose this is fair, this is Benson's first season as starter, so there is a bit of uncertainty there and he has had some injuries the last few years.