To hear the winless Detroit Lions (0-5) talk is to be reminded of the Bengals' own heart of darkness the past several seasons.

        A lot of the Lions' woes stem from missteps and bad breaks early in games that have doomed them to long days of playing catch-up.

        “Let's face it, not a lot of coaches talk about this,” Li ons coach Marty Mornhinweg said. “But 15 to 20 percent of the game is chance, and being fortunate ... The ball (is) oblong and it doesn't always bounce your way. It's bounced on us a few times. And that goes for referees' calls, too, which are part of the game.”

        Sound familiar?

        The Bengals, who have known a few winless early months, used to talk that way, too.

        But the Bengals, who play the Lions Sunday in Detroit, are 3-3 and hoping to go into their bye week 4-3.

        Bengals fans don't much care if the ball doesn't bounce Detroit's way the rest of the year, and certainly not Sunday.

        The Bengals have had a decade of the ball not bounc ing their way. Their attitude, and that of their fans, is: Let somebody else get the bad bounces. The Bengals have had more than their share.

        “When you're playing well, all of those things (bounces and calls) seem to go with you,” Mornhinweg said. “And when you're playing real well, you overcome those things so much more easily. ... But you know what? All of that doesn't matter. This is a production-now type of business.”

        The Lions hope to produce their first victory Sunday. But their best receivers are out, and their quarterback, Charlie Batch, hasn't practiced all week because of a sore arm but is expected to start Sunday.

        The Lions have a new coaching staff, a new general manager and new offensive and defensive schemes.

        They are expected to stack their defensive players at the line of scrimmage to try to stop the Bengals' running attack. The Bears did it last week with great success in a 24-0 victory.

        Can the Lions do the same?

        “Going into this season, I thought we'd be able to lean on the defense just a little bit,” Mornhinweg said. “It was not the case early in the year ... (But) the one thing that should be a constant is our front seven playing well. Really, the last two games, I felt our front seven — our defensive linemen, as well as our linebackers — have played well, especially in the run game. I feel we have some excellent players there that we can rely on.”

        Mornhinweg, however, believes the Lions will have their hands full with Bengals running back Corey Dillon.

        “He's a physical man; he's fast; he's got some moves,” Mornhinweg said.

        “Going into any football game, if your opponent has an excellent rushing attack, that will be the main focus for most defenses.”

Lions desperate for first victory LeBeau pays special attention to secondary

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