Only one NFL team made fewer field goals in 2001 than the Bengals' 17.

        Minnesota had just 15 field goals, but the Vikings also scored 10 more touchdowns than the Bengals.

        The Bengals were the NFL's lowest-scoring team with 226 points, and 49 of them came in the final two games. Contributing to the Bengals' anemic 14.1-point average was an NFL-worst .607 field goal percentage.

        The league average last season for made field goals was 23.6. The league percentage was .760.

        Improving production of the kicking game was an offseason priority for the Bengals, and the club invested its fourth-round draft pick in kicker/punter Travis Dorsch, who is expected to win the job at training camp.

        “We have to score more points,” Bengals coach Dick LeBeau said.

        Two years ago, the Bengals spent their sixth-round draft pick on another Big Ten kicker, Illinois' Neil Rackers. But Rackers, who was drafted to replace Doug Pelfrey, didn't come close to approaching Pelfrey's productivity. In his last season, Pelfrey scored 81 points and made 67 percent of his field goal attempts (18-of-27).

        “We're trying to address the problem with our kicking game,” LeBeau said this past week.

        The Bengals are unlikely to waste a draft pick on a kicker, especially as high as Round4, so the job appears to be Dorsch's.

        Last season, particularly in a 20-7 home loss to Tennessee on Nov.18, LeBeau appeared to lose faith in Rackers. Three times in the first half, with the ball twice on the 32-yard line and a third time on the 29, LeBeau didn't let Rackers kick.

        “We make those decisions off numbers that show up sta tistically,” LeBeau said this week, again defending his decisions in the Titans game. “You try to factor in the track record of making kicks from various points on the field.

        “Still, there's a point where you have to entrust your kicker with every expectation of making it.”

        Enter Dorsch. He made 22 of 27 field goals and 20 of 25 extra points at Purdue last season and set a school record with a 48.4-yard punting average. He won't punt for the Bengals. His job will be to kick the ball through the uprights.

        “We're at a situation now where we need to move on and keep on trying,” Bengals special teams coach Al Roberts said on draft weekend. “We'd like to think we have four starters with our first four picks.”

        Bengals president Mike Brown said the loose, sandy field at Paul Brown Stadium hasn't helped Rackers.

        “But one way or another, we've got to do better,” Brown said. “If Rackers can't, we want somebody who might.”

QB derby focus of Bengals camp Who has the edge? Kitna Bengals hope Dorsch is up and good Questions abound around Bengals Bengals training camp schedule Parity prevails as NFL camps open Bengals Q&A: Is Adams final piece of defensive puzzle?

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