There were wondrous things going on Sunday. Amazing things: Drive-extending, 5-yard pass completions on 3rd-and-4. Neil Rackers making a 47-yard field goal and sending five kickoffs into the end zone. Reinard Wilson, bless him, being described as “a force” by the radio guys. Tell me you thought you'd live long enough to hear that.

        If you do not follow the Cincinnati Bengals, you will not understand. You won't see the beauty in a QB who can complete a 5-yard out pass to keep a drive going or a defense that did not fold like a lawn chair with the game on the line.

        These words are not for you.

        The rest of you know what I'm talking about.

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        “Today was a big step in getting rid of some of the doubts in our minds” was how QB Jon Kitna put it. Kitna has only been here six months. He doesn't know from doubts. Try asking a season-ticketholder.

        With six seconds left in a 3rd quarter the Bengals dominated so thoroughly you thought they were playing, well, the Bengals, Kitna lofted a 25-yard TD pass to Tony McGee, who then semi-leaped into the first row of East endzone stands.

        “I held back,” McGee said. “I didn't want to jump too high. I'm 240 pounds. I didn't want to hurt anybody.”

        Nobody was hurting at Paul Brown Stadium. None of the 51,521 -- a mere 15,000 short of a full house -- was in any pain whatsoever. McGee's catch put the Bengals up 23-10, a nearly blow-proof lead the way they were playing.

        When it is 85 degrees and thick and you are playing defense nearly non-stop for close to an hour, the last shoulders you want to see are Corey Dillon's. Dillon chewed up the Patriots in the 3rd quarter. You knew he'd get his.

        What you didn't know was how Kitna could throw a 34-yarder to Darnay Scott that led to a field goal, then find McGee wide open down the middle for a score. These are plays the Bengals have not made lately.

        That they swept to a 23-10 lead and didn't blow it says a lot about the 2001 Bengals. Or maybe nothing at all. After all, they were playing New England. Believe what you want.

        Me, I'm ecstatic. The sky didn't fall. Charlie Brown actually kicked the football. Pass the Dom Perignon.

        The Bengals won a game they had to win. They won it with a 4th-quarter gut check. They got NFL-quality shows from everybody. Unlike last year's opener -- when the Cleveland Browns openly mocked them -- the Bengals were in shape.

        Said Willie Anderson, “We're in a lot better condition. It paid off big time” in the third quarter. “We pounded the hell out of them. (The Patriots) were huffing and puffing.”

        “We had people believing,” said Takeo Spikes. “It wasn't a must win. But to do what we need to do, we needed to win that game.”

        As McGee explained, “Learning how to win is key. Rudimentary 101.”

        Maybe only the Bengals could play a crucial game in Week 1. No matter. You've to walk before you run, and run before you leap into the stands. The Bengals are just learning to run. Maybe that explains why McGee didn't quite make it into the crowd.

        E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.

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