All eyes tonight will be on Jon Kitna. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        CHICAGO — The Bengals will unveil a new offense, a relati
new defense and a new quarterback tonight in their preseason opener against the Bears.

        Jon Kitna, signed as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason, will start and run the offense installed by new coordinator Bob Bratkowski. The Bengals will use multiple sets, including three wide receivers, with speedsters Darnay Scott and Chad Johnson on the outside and Peter Warrick in the slot.

        Franchise running back Corey Dillon might not play. And first-round draft pick Justin Smith will be at home in Missouri starting Week 3 of his contract holdout instead of lining up at defensive end.

        Mark Duffner will be coaching his first game as Bengals defensive coordinator and trying to improve a pass rush that had an AFC-low 26 sacks in 2000.

        Gone for the Bengals is the desperation to win that marked their last preseason meeting with the Bears — the first game at Paul Brown Stadium.

        Tonight, the goal is to win, but there are additional priorities.

        “It's more important to win than to do anything else,” coach Dick LeBeau said. “But to sit here and say it's critical to win all four games in the preseason doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

        “I'm interested in seeing us play aggressive, attacking football and playing it for four quarters, and we want to win.”

        Two weeks into training camp, Kitna has taken a slight edge over Scott Mitchell in the quarterback derby. Akili Smith has slipped to a

        distant third. The quarterbacks will play in the same order as they did in the intrasquad scrimmage: Kitna, Mitchell, Smith and Scott Covington. Somebody other than Kitna will start Friday in Detroit in the second exhibition game.

        How much they will play tonight is a coaching decision.

        “I think that's perfect,” Kitna said. “Then you go out there and you're just playing. You have no expectations. And when he says "You're done,' you're done. When you go out there and think you're going to play a quarter, then all of a sudden he says, "Go back in there,' now I'm mentally shut down and have to get it back. And that's when a lot of bad things happen.”

        Bad things happened to the Bengals in the 2000 preseason. They were outscored 93-73 in going 1-3, their 12th consecutive non-winning preseason. Then they lost their first six regular season games en route to setting a franchise record for fewest points, 185, and fielding the NFL's worst pass offense.

        The biggest curiosity this preseason will be the pass offense. The Bengals went after several quarterbacks in free agency — Elvis Grbac, Rob Johnson and Gus Frerotte before signing Kitna — and they drafted another pair of wide receivers, former Oregon State teammates Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

        Kitna wants fans to be patient with the new offense.

        “We're going to stay a little more basic,” he said. “The things to look for this week are how fast did we get out of the huddle and up to the line, did we run it crisp? Certainly, you want to score points. And I think we can do that. But if we don't score a point the first three series, is it the same old Bengals? I don't think so. I know better by watching these guys with all the speed and how we're now executing as opposed to the first day we were out here.

        “I know we've come a long way and I know we're going to be a good offense, but it's just going to take us time to get used to the game speed.”

Winning only one of Bengal goals tonight SULLIVAN: Kitna is where Smith wants to be Farmer fighting for a job

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