The notion the Bengals might use their first-round draft pick on yet another quarterback ought to scare the wits out of every Cincinnati football fan. For sheer terror, the Bengals picking a QB No. 1 tops anything Stephen King could write.

        Nightmare on Second Street: Bengals Take QB In First Round.

        The Bengals' quest for a quarterback looks like a dog chasing its tail. They'd be better served finding a stockboy at Kroger who throws a mean fastball with a pork roast. They could cite his “above-average arm strength.”

        Yet if Oregon QB Joey Harrington falls to No. 10, team personnel man Jim Lippincott says the Bengals might not be able to resist. “He's a fine player,” Lippincott thinks.

        It's frightening beyond words.

        Look at the other QBs the Bengals have drafted since '85. Check out their golden-armed roster of future Hall of Famers. Tell us what they're doing now, win fabulous prizes: Doug Gaynor, Steve Bradley, Erik Wilhelm, Bob Jean, Donald Hollas, John Walsh and Scott Covington.

Don't say the "K' word

        Then there was David Klingler. Nice guy, great athlete, nobody liked him. Ate lunch in his truck.

        Then Akili Smith. Great athlete, world waiting for him to get it, as a player and a leader. Huddle presence is ghostly, because the 10 guys around him are wondering if he knows what he's doing.

        Klingler and Smith have set the franchise back 10 years. And we won't even talk about Jack Thompson.

        Since Ken Anderson, the Bengals' best QBs have fallen into their laps. Boomer Esiason was a No.2 pick who should have been a No.1. Jeff Blake was Clipboard Man until the two players ahead of him were hurt.

        Given the success of sixth-round pick Tom Brady and former stockboy Kurt Warner, why risk another No. 1?

        “We have to,” Lippincott says.

        No, you don't.

A chance to be good

        Here is what you do:

        Get Drew Bledsoe. Call Esiason and tell him to do a sell job. Outbid the Buffalo Bills. Pay Bledsoe the $5 million base he's due this year. You can afford it. Do not nickel and dime him, as you are reportedly doing now, offering him $2 million plus incentives. That only reinforces your league-wide image as pretenders.

        Harrington might be great. He threw a long TD pass in the Fiesta Bowl that looked to be shot from a pitching machine. But he's a rookie, and by the time he's good, the rest of these Bengals won't be.

        They're ready to be good now. Or at least better. Bledsoe wouldn't have his teammates scratching their heads in the huddle. They just might believe in him. This offense has been desperate for leadership since Esiason's five-game sunset five years ago.

        Get Bledsoe. Draft Phillip Buchanon, the corner from Miami who's this year's Champ Bailey, a blanket defender who also can return kicks. The Bengals need two safeties and a corner. That still might not be enough.

        Don't mess around with a maybe in Harrington. Not this year. For the first time in 12 years, you have a chance to be decent. Get it done, for a change.

DAUGHERTY: Bengals draft LeBeau says Harrington worth look Q&A with Dick LeBeau Area draft hopefuls can only wait and watch Who wants to be a millionaire? Not him Former Browns player wins lawsuit against brokerage firm Randle El ready to make move Teams looking to move up and down in first round NFL notes: James on schedule for return to Colts

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