Guess what? It's getting worse

Monday, September 27, 1999
Guess what? It's getting worse
Bengals drop to 0-3; are poorest team of '90s

BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake was 24-for-43 for 251 yards and one interception.
(AP photo)
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CHARLOTTE — Now there is no question which NFL team is the worst of the 1990s.
The Bengals reached laughingstock status Sunday when even the sad-sack Carolina Panthers blew them out here at Ericsson Stadium, 27-3, to secure their fifth winless September of the decade.
The Bengals have reached 0-3 in dreadful fashion, getting outscored the last two weeks by the Chargers and Panthers by a combined 61-10. That's not exactly getting whipped by the NFL elite. San Diego came into its game with the Bengals the loser of 13 of its last 19 games and Carolina the loser of 16 of its last 20.
Now the Bengals are losers of 13 of their last 14 and facing a Rams team next Sunday at Cinergy Field that is one game ahead of them in the race for the league's worst of the decade. The Rams are 47-99, the Bengals 48-99 in the '90s, but the 2-0 Rams have left the Bengals in the dust and the Cincinnati locker room wonders how.
“We're looking for answers,” said Bengals linebacker Takeo Spikes, who offered as good as reason as any.
“Maybe's there's a jinx on us or something.”
As cornerback Artrell Hawkins said, “It's hard to be positive right now. We didn't do what we have to do to win. When will it happen? I don't know, but it better be soon.”
Incredibly, the Bengals manufactured another way to lose Sunday. Coach Bruce Coslet, sounding more and more like a philosopher, said, “Deep down in my heart I wish I knew,” when asked what's wrong with his team. “Every week it's something new.”
Sunday, it was quarterback Jeff Blake muttering to equipment manager Tom Gray as he walked into the locker room, “We had the ball for 80 plays and get just three points? How does that happen? They still haven't stopped us.”
But the Panthers did because the Bengals:
• Had the ball for 74 plays and 37:24 and found a way not to score a touchdown.
• Saw the usually reliable Doug Pelfrey miss three straight field goals from 47, 37 and 30 yards that would have put the Bengals within 13-12 in the middle of the third quarter.
• Watched their defense that held foes to less than 100 yards rushing in the first two games allow the two longest runs in Carolina history, by running back Tim Biakabutuka that accounted for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
• Saw two of veteran right guard Brian DeMarco's three false start penalties come on third down at the Panther 29 and 11.
“Couldn't hear,” DeMarco said. “But that's stuff you have to deal with.”
The Bengals also had to deal with losing backup running back Ki-Jana Carter with a dislocated kneecap midway through the first quarter and No.1 running back Corey Dillon's 113 yards on 20 carries to cramps for about 10 minutes in the second half.
At one point in the "when it rains it pours' category, Coslet's only back was fullback Clif Groce.
That made it tough in the red zone, said Blake, because the Panthers doubled-teamed his wideouts, meaning the Bengals had to run it and yardage was tough down close.

Carolina running back Tshimanga Biakabutuka gets past Bengals likebacker Takeo Spikes on the way to a 62-yard touchdown in the first quarter Sunday.
(AP photo)
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“It's unreal to come out of it with three points,” said right tackle Willie Anderson. “The key was not getting it done in the red zone. We moved the ball. We drove down the field. We can't afford the missed opportunities. We're not a good enough team to overcome that.”
They also weren't able to overcome Biakabutuka's 62-yard touchdown run on the Panthers' first play from scrimmage in which Spikes and fellow inside linebacker Brian Simmmons blitzed up the middle. They ran by the tackle as Biaka butuka swept down the right sideline.
“They caught us in a defense that they should have got some yardage on, but it never should have gone the distance,” Simmons said. “And the second run, that was just bad defense.”
The second one came with 4:47 left in the third quarter and blew it open as Biakabutuka broke his own club record with a 67-yard touchdown run. Biakabutuka was hemmed in on the left sideline on a sweep when he jumped back from outside linebacker Reinard Wilson's grasp and reversed field.
“We didn't have enough people swarming to the ball,” Wilson said. “I didn't want to lunge at him so he could get outside me and get a long run that way.”
Blake hit on 24-of-43 passes for 251 yards and an interception with his sprained right shoulder, but the Panthers' zone took away the deep ball to his receivers. His longest pass was a 24-yarder to tight end Tony McGee, and wide receiver Darnay Scott hurt him with drops on two straight forays in or near the red zone when they were still within 13-0 midway through the third quarter.
Scott let a first-down pass go through his hands on third-and-five from the Panther 13, and after Hawkins recovered fullback William Floyd's fumble a play later, it appeared Blake had Scott for a touchdown on 3rd-and-6 from the Carolina 22. While rolling out, Blake motioned for Scott to run by cornerback Eric Davis, and he did. But Scott dropped it.
Coslet has been critical of the play of his receivers, but couldn't single out any position Sunday.
“I don't think you can really do that and be right about it,” Coslet said. “If we decided to do that, who would you put in at that position? That's where we are.”

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