Dick LeBeau could not celebrate. That would have been bad form and would have sent a worse message. A coach shouldn't savor his success when the scoreboard says failure.

        Yet the new head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals can go to work this morning satisfied that the worst may be over. The Bengals remain winless in the wake of Sunday's 31-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins, but they are no longer completely clueless. There are signs of hope where there had been only horror.

        “We are our own worst enemies,” defensive tackle Oliver Gibson said, “but we can be our own best friends.”

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Peter Warrick makes a one-handed TD catch ... (Jeff Swinger photo) 600 | 800 | 1024 then leaps into the jubilant crowd. (AP photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

        For the first time in a season of staggering futility, the Bengals played half of a
game like a legitimate NFL team. They led the Dolphins 13-0 before the LeBeau honeymoon ended with a baffling blunder at the close of the first half and a second-half series of familiar frustrations.

        LeBeau's decision/complicity to call for a deep pass with less than 10 seconds remaining in the first half made little strategic sense. When Miami's Jason Taylor sacked Akili Smith, forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown, he closed the score to 13-10 and delivered a devastating blow to the Bengals' tender psyches.

        Before that, however, the Bengals were moving the ball with conviction. They were dominating the game on defense.

        “They came out guns blazing,” said Dolphins defensive tackle Tim Bowens. “They hit us in the mouth (and) caught us off-guard.”

Step forward
               After three weeks of catastrophic defeats, here was a glimmer of competence. That it didn't last — that the Bengals still are incapable of sustained efficiency — was to be expected. Artrell Hawkins continues to start at cornerback, after all, and he might as well play with a bull's-eye on his back.

        Yet despite Hawkins' difficulties in covering, tackling and fouling Dolphins, elsewhere there were grounds for encouragement. Smith, his reads simplified by offensive coordinator Ken Anderson, was more decisive and more accurate. Similarly, offensive line coach Paul Alexander simplified his blocking schemes and gave Corey Dillon more daylight than he had seen in a month.

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What's this? Fans cheering? Yes, after Takeo Spikes' first-half INT. (Steven M. Herppich photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

        “There's something there of substance for us all to build on,” said LeBeau.

        Realistically, you couldn't have asked for much more. No football coach and few physicists could take an immovable object and in one week turn it into an irresistible force. Having lost their first three games under Bruce Coslet by a composite score of 74-7, the LeBeau Bengals should probably be graded on a curve for a few weeks.

        “We talked about building this thing one step at a time and we knew it wouldn't be easy,” LeBeau said.

Working toward winning
               By Bengal standards, Sunday showed progress. Instead of returning to work wondering what hit them, the players and coaches can diagnose deficiencies with some confidence they can be cured. A team that remembers how to run the ball can dictate tempo, control the clock and keep games close enough to win some of them.

        “You could see — I think we all could see — this team can do some things,” LeBeau said. “We have some talented players here. Winning means sustaining for 60 minutes and we did not do that. We have to work on that.”

        The work will be hard, but it no longer looks quite so hopeless.

        E-mail: tsullivan@enquirer.com.

Dolphins 31, Bengals 16 SULLIVAN: Bengals now hopeful, not hopeless LeBeau's debut pleases Bengals Going for knockout costly Rackers, Dillon get on track Bengals-Dolphins statistics

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