Jon Kitna was talking a fine line. He was speaking about mistakes that should have stopped in September, about the Cincinnati Bengals' propensity for unforced errors.

        He was trying to be candid without naming names. But you could tell he was tiring of some of his teammates. You could feel his frustration as if it had its own contours. You could look at Kitna behind the podium at Paul Brown Stadium and know he was tiring of some of his teammates.

        You wondered if he had sensed a lack of professionalism among his fellow players. You were surprised when he did not dodge the question.

        “No question,” Kitna said, “Lack of a sense of urgency... When guys decide that it is enough, that we've lost enough, then it will become important to them.”

       Plainly unprofessional

        Eleven games deep in another dismal season, the Bengals again are afflicted with don't-give-a-dang disease. Some of them are professionals only in the sense that they get paid. Some of them appear to have been mailing it in for months.

        “If I can make one statement about what's wrong with the offense, I would say that we're making the same mistakes now that we made in Week 1,” Kitna said. “That's unacceptable.”

        Fifteen weeks since training camp ended, six weeks since their last victory, the Bengals are still prone to egregious mental errors. Players line up in the wrong place. They draw dumb penalties. They run the wrong routes. They beat themselves.

        Not to single out Akili Smith, but the four-play cameo the erstwhile franchise quarterback made in Cleveland was indicative mainly of poor preparation. Bengals alum/analyst/ombudsman Dave Lapham says Smith lined up in the shotgun formation on a play that called for him to take a direct snap from center; that he made an incorrect drop on another pass play.

        The performance suggested Smith had been using his playbook to prop up a wobbly table leg.

        And for that, he was promoted.

       Education pays

        Some allowances might be made because the Bengals are adapting to a new offense. To young players, the schematic switch from college to pro is as profound as the adjustment from checkers to chess. As Willie Anderson has stated repeatedly, more guys need to take home more homework.

        “They really need to realize that the situation here — not just with the Bengals, but the NFL — is a long way from what worked in college,” Bengals owner Mike Brown said Wednesday. “You can't just run "Old No.32' all year long. You have to stay up on things and know the little adjustments that make a difference.”

        Bengals coach Dick LeBeau attributes some of the Bengals' offensive difficulties to assimilating a new system. Brown points to players getting accustomed to new teammates. Watching Kitna throw a short pass beyond the reach of running back Corey Dillon Wednesday, Brown declared: “That's an example.”

        On the very next play of the afternoon practice, Kitna threw a pass into the chest of a linebacker.

        “That one,” Brown said, “I'll let you explain.”

        Contact Tim Sullivan at 768-8456; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: tsullivan@enquirer.com.
       

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