Scott Mitchell (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Scott Mitchell has to decide whether he wants to stick with a team that never sticks with its quarterbacks for very long.

        Mitchell's two starts for the Bengals have caught the team's fancy and made it rethink its plans for Akili Smith.

        As a free agent, Mitchell can look for a chance to play on a better team next year. If he continues to run the Bengals' ground-oriented offense efficiently, he'll likely have the option of staying in Cincinnati and competing with Smith for the starting job in training camp.

        “I like to look at myself as a solution and a guy that can be counted on, a guy that can help you win,” Mitchell said Wednesday.

        The Bengals (3-10) haven't had a winning season since 1990. One of their biggest problems has been their inability to settle on a quarterback.

        They thought they'd fixed the problem when they drafted Smith last year, but his struggles through the first 10 games led to a benching and yet another change in plans.

        General Manager Mike Brown wants to bring in another quarterback to compete with Smith for the job next year. For now, Brown is considering Mitchell, who lost starting jobs with Detroit and Baltimore in the last two years.

        In the last seven years, the Bengals have lurched from David Klingler to Jeff Blake to Boomer Esiason to Neil O'Donnell to Paul Justin to Smith and now Mitchell, with brief detours in-between.

        “It has been our Achilles' heel,” Brown said last week. “We have not gotten the quarterback thing up and running. It's gone on and on. We've never quite gotten up to the point where the quarterback was carrying the team, which is what you want.”

        Brown's latest change of heart provides an opportunity for Mitchell, who turns 33 on Jan. 2 and would like to finish his career playing for a contender. He said that doesn't necessarily rule out Cincinnati, provided the circumstances are right.

        “I don't want to be in this situation again next year,” he said. “I don't want to be on a team that's just getting through the season. I want to be on a team that has a chance to compete and be in the playoffs and have a chance to win a Super Bowl.

        “That's what I'm going to look at when I'm done this year, just to see what goes on. I think that's really up to the Cincinnati Bengals, where they want to go with this and what they want to do. I don't think it's that far off.”

        Mitchell also has played for Miami, Detroit and Baltimore during his 11-year career. He came to Cincinnati knowing its reputation as a place that veterans avoid, but found it to be a nice fit.

        “I've had a good experience here, I really have,” he said. “It's been a very pleasant surprise for me.”

        The Bengals could afford to keep Mitchell in part because Smith isn't playing. Smith makes $275,000 this season and is 348 passing yards shy of a contract incentive that would jump his pay next season to $4 million. The savings could be used on Mitchell.

        Mitchell is interested in seeing whether the Bengals keep running back Corey Dillon, who also is a free agent and is the focus of the offense.

        “I guarantee you that having a running back like that can definitely give a quarterback a chance to have success,” Mitchell said. “You can really be efficient with a runner like that. That's something to really consider on my part.”

Mitchell wants to play on contender McNair gives Akili hope McNair: Dillon best in NFL Sprained ankle delays decision on McNair Titans' linebacker key to stopping Dillon Mack's court hearing delayed Ex-Bengal Francis faces child-support charges

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