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With the free-agent market at running back moving at a snail’s pace over the last week, two of the prospects of interest to Fantasy owners went through the paces as both Michael Bush and BenJarvus Green-Ellis visited Chicago and Cincinnati.

From a Fantasy perspective, it seemed like Bush was an ideal fit for the primary role in Cincinnati, where Cedric Benson's tenure has run its course while Green-Ellis looked like a great backup and goal-line man to work behind Matt Forte.

So of course, it didn't work out that way. ... Green-Ellis agreed to terms with the Bengals on Wednesday with Bush subsequently signing on in Chicago.

Oh yeah. ... And Forte isn't very happy about it.

We'll start, however, with Green-Ellis and the Bengals. According to Cincinnati Enquirer staffer Joe Reedy, when Green-Ellis visited on Wednesday, many thought that he might be using the Bengals as leverage in order to get a better deal with the Patriots. Then again, there were some who thought that the Bengals were seeing him as another option if things with Bush did not work out.

Bush visited on Monday and Tuesday.

In the end, the pairing ended up being a good fit for both.

The benefits with Green-Ellis are that he has 24 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons and has not fumbled in 510 career carries. During the past two years the Bengals have a combined 18 rushing touchdowns and Benson had 12 fumbles.

As Reedy suggested, the number though that gives some people pause is that he averaged only 3.7 yards per carry last year and his longest run was 18 yards while Benson averaged 3.9 and had three carries of 30 yards or more. At the end of last season, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said he was looking for a back that would produce more long runs.

Green-Ellis, who came in the league as an undrafted player and rushed for 1,008 yards in 2010, though is better suited for the backfield by committee approach that Gruden and head coach Marvin Lewis want as they try to give Bernard Scott a larger role in the run game. According to Reedy, Brian Leonard would still be a factor in third-down situations while Cedric Peerman was used mostly on special teams last season.

Green-Ellis, who turns 27 in July, has never carried it more than 229 times, but when he did he had 1,008 yards in 2010 and has scored 24 touchdowns in the past two seasons compared to 17 for all Bengals backs and 13 for Benson.

A powerful inside runner, Green-Ellis is also known for not giving any ground. Only a dozen of his 181 carries last season went for negative yardage. His play time (475 snaps) and production slipped in part last season to a toe injury.

Catching the ball isn't what Green Ellis is known for, but he's worked at it enough that he averaged nearly 18 yards per his nine catches last year. He's used to rotating. He would sit out a quarter at a time with Danny Woodhead (449 snaps) and Stevan Ridley (200) also getting work.

While the agreement with Green-Ellis ends Benson's four-year term in Cincinnati, Bengals.com staffer Geoff Hobson believes it also suggests the Bengals are going to draft a running back next month as well. ...

Moving along to the Bears. ... Chicago Tribune staffer Brad Biggs notes with the arrival of Bush, the team has now invested good money in a No. 2 running back for the third consecutive year. His deal is worth $14 million, with $7 million guaranteed.

Bush rushed for a career-high 977 yards in 16 games for the Raiders last season, starting nine as Darren McFadden was sidelined with a foot injury. He also caught 37 passes out of the backfield for 418 yards, so he’s shown some of the versatility the Bears are used to in Forte.

That said, Bush is clearly the backup to Forte, who has been tendered with the franchise tag, meaning he will earn $7.742 million this season. Forte has yet to sign that tender, and general manager Phil Emery said Friday the team continues to work toward signing him.

But in the absence of a deal for Forte, Biggs notes the Bears could have a bona fide starter in Bush.

“Obviously, we want Matt to be a Bear for the long term,” Emery said. “We’re working toward that resolution.”

Meanwhile, Forte is none too pleased by this development. And he took to Twitter this morning to express his feelings.

“There’s only so many times a man that has done everything he’s been asked to do can be disrespected!” Forte tweeted. “Guess the GOOD GUYs do finish last.”

Forte has played hard for the Bears, handling heavy workloads and playing through a knee injury in 2009. But as Profootballtalk.com's Evan Silva notes, Forte hasn’t exactly played the role of good soldier. He’s gone on ESPN repeatedly to voice his frustration about his contract demands, which the Bears have offered a guaranteed salary of $7.778 million to satisfy.

But Forte wants much, much more, and he’s gone out of his way time and time again to let it be known.

Forte’s agent even chimed in on Thursday.

"Since drafting Matt in 2008, the Bears have signed Kevin Jones, Chester Taylor and Marion Barber, all ostensibly to serve as Matt's back-up," Forte's agent Adisa Bakari told ESPN.com's Michael C. Wright. "To sign yet another running back, prior to completing a contract with Matt suggests disregard for Matt and his contributions to the Bears."

Forte has said in the past that he would be "hard to find" if the Bears tagged him -- although he suggest he would be okay with it as long as it led to a long-term deal and was not simply a tactic to keep him off the free-agent market for another season.

"It depends on the motive of (the franchise tag)," Forte said in February. "If they are doing the franchise tag just to get more time in order to negotiate a long-term deal then I would be OK with it. But if it's just to hold me another year and just 'Let's throw some money at him right now to keep him quiet,' that's not going to solve anything."

The Bears have been adamant in expressing a desire for the sides to come to a long-term agreement -- but clearly the arrival of Bush is going to be an issue. The Bears have until July 16 to reach a deal with Forte, 26, on a long-term contract or he plays for the franchise tender.

Or not.

It's certainly a situation I'll be watching closely in coming weeks. So stay tuned for more on that. ...

Otherwise, Bush's arrival also makes it likely the Bears will cut ties with Barber, who was a free-agent flop last season and cost the team a victory at Denver when he ran out of bounds late in the game as the team was trying to run out the clock and then lost a fumble in overtime.

Barber signed a $4.5 million, two-year contract last summer that included a $500,000 signing bonus. He is due to earn a base salary of $1.9 million this season and has a $100,000 roster bonus. By releasing him, the Bears would create $2 million in cap savings and he would count just $250,000 against the cap.