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Thursday, October 10, 2002

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Think the Steelers have not played well lately? Think, at 1-3, they might be headed for their fourth season out of the playoffs in their past five? Think things could not be worse?

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Think again. They could be the Cincinnati Bengals, their opponent Sunday.

The 0-5 Bengals are well on their way to their 12th consecutive non-winning season, the longest streak in the NFL. They have the fewest victories of any team, by far, over the past decade, with 50. They have the worst home record in the past 10 years (33-49). They have not made the playoffs since Jerome Bettis was a freshman at Notre Dame.

"No winning record?" Bettis said, incredulously. "Not even 8-8?"

Yes, one 8-8 season. The Bengals stormed to their only non-losing record in the past 11 seasons by winning the final three games of 1996 to finish at .500. More typical of their records were 3-13, 4-12, 4-12 and 6-10 -- their past four.

Starting 0-5 is no shock in Cincinnati. The Bengals have done it twice in the past three seasons and five times in the past 12.

It's gotten to such a point that Coach Dick LeBeau yesterday said if his Bengals upset the Steelers Sunday, "I will dive into the Ohio River."

He would be the first Bengals coach to go voluntarily.

Cincinnati's 12-year record of misery is quite an accomplishment in an era of parity caused by a salary cap and free agency that supposedly give every team an equal chance to win.

This was supposed to be the season in which the Bengals would make their move, finally. They improved to 6-10 under LeBeau last season, and their talent level hasn't been this high in years. But as soon as the gun sounded to start the season, they turned into the SOBs -- Same Old Bengals.

LeBeau left the Steelers to join this mess back in 1997 as defensive coordinator. He was elevated to head coach in the 2000 season. His record is 10-24. A decade of losing is proving difficult to overcome.

"The answer to that is, don't lose," LeBeau said. "It is probably easier for me than many because I have been part of this franchise when it was very successful."

LeBeau was a Bengals assistant when they nearly beat San Francisco twice in Super Bowls in the 1980s.

"So, I know that we can win, and we are just focused on getting this team back into that situation."

Kimo von Oelhoffen, who played six years at defensive end for the Bengals before he joined the Steelers as a free agent in 2000, doesn't know why the franchise no longer can win.

"That is still a mystery to me. If I had to say one thing, I'd have to say quarterback ... it's a leader, there's just no leader on that team."

The Bengals had five starting quarterbacks in their openers the past five seasons -- Neil O'Donnell in 1998, followed by Jeff Blake, Akili Smith, Jon Kitna and Gus Frerotte. Kitna is the third starting quarterback this season after Frerotte and Smith were promoted and dumped.

LeBeau admits he made a mistake with his quarterbacks after Kitna started 15 of 16 games last season, including a 411-yard performance in a victory against the Steelers Dec. 30.

"Obviously, it was not the greatest decision in my life," LeBeau said. "But we are not looking backward, we are looking forward. It was not anything that Jon did. I made the choice, and we started Gus Frerotte. He injured his thumb early in the season. I don't know if that was a factor or not, but that is what happened, and we are ready to go from here in with Jon."

Steelers tackle Wayne Gandy said it's always been that way for Cincinnati at the position.

"The one thing I've always known about Cincinnati is it's never been their players," Gandy said. "They have good players, they play hard and all that. It's kind of like just sticking with somebody, especially at the quarterback position. I can't say their quarterbacks are bad quarterbacks as much as nobody gets stuck with it. Nobody can perform -- not you, not me -- with your boss always looking in the window and there's no room for error."

Von Oelhoffen disagrees with Gandy. He said the talent level with the Steelers is much higher than what the Bengals have.

"I would just say there's not as much talent throughout the field. Here we have 22 solid to above-average players. Over there, they have six or seven above-average, a couple solids, and then there's six or seven guys they are just weaknesses and they just show up during the game."

The problems for the Steelers as they head to Paul Brown Stadium Sunday is that while the Bengals have had a difficult time with the rest of the league, they are 4-4 against the Steelers the past four seasons.

Cincinnati has beaten the Steelers in October, and the Bengals have beat practically no one in this month. Since 1991, the Bengals are 8-35 in October. Two of those victories came against the Steelers (1995, 1998). The Steelers' 27-9 loss to Cincinnati Oct. 19, 1995, dropped them to 3-4. They went on an eight-game winning streak after that and reached the Super Bowl.

LeBeau was defensive coordinator for the Steelers that year.

"I often talk of the players from Pittsburgh," LeBeau said. "They were a great bunch. They were champions."

For the beleaguered LeBeau, it must seem like a long, long time ago.