Fittingly it was Bengals running back Cedric Benson punctuating the Benson Bowl with a two-yard touchdown run three seconds into the fourth quarter behind defensive tackle turned fullback Domata Peko to get to 45, a bruising reminder to the Bears just how much they’ve missed since they cut Benson last summer.

Benson made it hurt with a career-high 189 yards on 37 carries, the biggest day by a Bengals back since Rudi Johnson broke the 200-yard mark against Cleveland in 2004 and the eighth best rushing game in club history.

As the crowd careened into the fourth quarter, they serenaded Benson, the Texas icon, with the Ohio state song of “Hang on Sloopy,” after he ended the third quarter with a 26-yard burst up the middle on which he accelerated past the linebackers.

Palmer fired his fifth touchdown pass with four minutes left for wide receiver Chad Ochocinco’s second touchdown catch of the day, a 13-yarder that Palmer made possible by gunning it into the hole of the zone despite getting blown up by a blitz.

It marked The Ocho’s 10th catch of the day for 118 yards, which gave him 573 yards for the season, 33 more than he had all last year.

But they weren’t done, safety Chris Crocker came up with the defense’s fourth turnover of the day on Bears quarterback Jay Cutler’s wayward throw in the middle of the field and Palmer kept rolling and when J.T. O’Sullivan replaced him with 11 minutes left in the game he had 20 of 24 for 233 yards for a 146 passer rating. The five TDs were one shy off his club-record six that he set Sept. 16, 2007 in Cleveland.

With Palmer out, the Bengals punted for the first time with 8:11 left in the game, but even that worked out. Safety Josh Bullucks was called for running into Huber, giving the Bengals a chance to keep their scoring drives skein intact. They turned it over on a fourth down late in the game.

Fullback Jeremi Johnson left with a knee injury in the third quarter and didn’t return.