Earl Bennett - Professional Career - Chicago Bears - 2009 Season

2009 Season

On April 2, 2009, Bennett's former teammate at Vanderbilt during the 2005 season, Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler was acquired by the Bears via a trade with the Denver Broncos. Bears head coach Lovie Smith said Bennett would be given "every opportunity" to win a spot as a starting receiver alongside Devin Hester in 2009. Bennett did just that during the course of mandatory mini-camp and training camp, as he showed an ability to make tough grabs in traffic and a willingness to go over the middle. He is currently the No. 2 Receiver on the depth chart and has become a favorite target for Cutler, as the duo quickly regained the chemistry they shared on the field and off during their college years playing together at Vanderbilt. During that offseason, Earl also changed his number from 85 to 80. (He tried to obtain his original college number 10, but since NFL rules prohibit players from changing numbers in the 80s to numbers in the 10s, he settled for 80 as it reminded him of Jerry Rice.)

Earl was the only Bears receiver to catch at least 1 pass in each game played during the 17-Game regular season in which the Bears missed the playoffs. Bennett got off to a strong start in season in the Week 1 match-up against the Green Bay Packers, making seven catches for 66 yards. Two weeks later against the Seattle Seahawks, Bennett caught four passes for 80 yards. A week later against the Detroit Lions, Bennett returned four punts for a 15 yard average and a long of 25 yards in place of an injured Devin Hester. During Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons, Bennett caught four passes for 57 yards, including a clutch grab in the red zone in which Bennett took a big hit to still give Chicago a chance to win but eventually lost that game. In Week 9 against the Arizona Cardinals, Bennett caught seven passes for 93 yards, but the Bears lost 41–21. In Week 16 against the division rival Minnesota Vikings, Bennett caught three passes for 35 yards, along with his second career receiving touchdown. Bennett had a key two-point conversion against the Seattle Seahawks for his first points of the 2009 season and his career. Bennett caught his first career touchdown from Jay Cutler against the St. Louis Rams in Week 13 as well completing a career-long 71-yard pass reception.

On December 20 against the Baltimore Ravens, Bennett returned a punt 49 yards for a touchdown in place of the Bears injured returner Devin Hester.

Earl Bennett finished the season with 717 yards on 54 catches with two receiving touchdowns and a punt return touchdown as well.