Scott Mitchell cried tears of joy after leading the Bengals to 17 second-half points and a 27-24 victory over the Detroit Lions, his former team, Friday night at the Silverdome. But if the Bengals' starting offensive line doesn't solve stunts and blitzes against a first-string defense, Mitchell could be shedding tears of pain when he starts the Aug. 25 preseason home opener against Buffalo.

        Two games into the exhibition schedule, the Bengals' veteran offensive line has had almost as much say in the team's quarterback derby as the quarterbacks them- selves.

        The starting quarterbacks, Jon Kitna and Akili Smith, faced intense pressure because of the line's shortcomings in pass protection. Quarterbacks who've come in for the second halves, Mitchell and Smith, enjoyed better protection behind the Bengals' second offensive line because it was working against second- and third-string pass rushers who were running vanilla defenses.

        Kitna wasn't sacked at Chicago, but he had to run away from pressure at least three times when the line failed to block Bears defensive linemen who were

        switching rush lanes.

        The Lions' defensive front, one of the NFL's best, sacked Kitna twice in the second quarter Friday night after putting Smith down five times. Right end Jerry Hall had four sacks, stunting behind the defensive tackle and finding gaps in the interior of the Bengals' line.

        Hall lined up across from Bengals left tackle Richmond Webb, who succeeded in pushing Hall past the pocket on a straight pass rush. On the other side, Jamain Stephens, subbing for the injured Willie Anderson, also struggled against blitzing linebackers. The middle of the Bengals offensive front — Mike Goff, Rich Braham and Matt O'Dwyer — played into the second half.

        The Detroit sacks accounted for 56 yards in losses and knocked the 302-yard passing gross, the first since Jeff Blake in 1999, down to a 246-yard net.

        Smith was diplomatic about the line's problems after the Detroit game.

        “I played poorly, but there's only so much you can do when you've got a lot of pressure,” he said. “We're still jelling as an offense, we're still jelling as a first offensive line, but we have a lot of work to do.”

        Bengals coach Dick LeBeau said Friday fixing the first line's pass protection is the team's top priority before the Buffalo game.

        “We did not protect the way I wanted,” he said. “We have to work on that, and we don't have a whole lot of time.”

        At the same time, LeBeau said he is pleased with the quarterback play.

        “The situation is still up in the air because they're all doing good things,” he said.

        LeBeau will name his regular-season starting quarterback after the Buffalo game. The winner is expected to play the first half of the preseason finale Aug. 30 against Indianapolis as a tune-up to the season opener Sept. 9 against New England.

        Asked if he earned the starter's job based on his Detroit effort, Mitchell said: “... I feel good about how things went tonight. There were a lot of positive things.”

        Mitchell, again working against Detroit's second- and third-team defenses, officially was 12-for-19 passing for 140 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He completed five consecutive passes on the 74-yard drive that set up Neil Rackers' game-winning 34-yard field goal as time expired.

        Mitchell has said he's the long shot in the race because Kitna and Smith received big signing bonuses — $4 million for Kitna and $10.8 million for Smith — and he is inexpensive at $800,000 a year.

        Kitna, who threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Darnay Scott in the second quarter, has said he will accept whatever decision is made about his role.

        Smith, who impressed LeBeau by bypassing his turn to go back into the game in favor of Mitchell's hot hand, has said he can accept the decision as long as each quarterback received an equal chance in game action.

Bengals QBs need more help from line

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