Philip Rivers won the NFL Offensive Player of the Month for December. Rivers led the Chargers from a 4-8 record, winning four-straight in December to capture the team's third consecutive AFC West title. They are the first team ever to start 4-8 and make the playoffs. During the month, Rivers completed 66.1% of passes for 1,054 yards and 11 touchdowns (NFL-high) with only one pick (120.3 passer rating). Phillips' month of December was impressive, critical to the team's chances of making the playoffs.
Still, I thought we should give a shoutout to Cedric Benson (again). In his last four games, Benson recorded 412 yards rushing on 91 attempts, averaging 4.5 yards-per-rush. With seven receptions for 108 yards, Benson finished the season with 520 yards from scrimmage on 98 touches (5.3 yards-per-touch). Granted, guys like Adrian Peterson (449 yards rushing), DeAngelo Williams (560 yards rushing, 7 touchdowns), Steve Slaton (408 yards rushing), and Michael Turner (491 yards rushing) had much better Decembers. While it still should be pointed out that Benson didn't have the advantage of quality quarterback play (managing yes, not enough to keep defenses on their heels), it should help convince ownership (LOL) that Benson is young enough that you could build the rushing offense around.
So while Rivers had the best December, and while other running backs had a better month, we believe that Benson has nothing but upside, and that Bengals should making signing him a high priority. After all, if not for his performances, the Bengals could have really finished the season in really, really, really bad shape.