Bengals president Mike Brown says the future is now for his team. After 11 consecutive non-winning, non-playoff seasons, the Bengals are trying to win now.

        In a Q&A conducted Tuesday after the team's annual pre-training camp luncheon, Brown discussed why it is so important for the Bengals to win this season.

        “We're trying to get the team as good as it can be for this year,” he said. “There's an overriding reason. We need to win. We need to have a good year. It's been too long between winning seasons.”

        The last time the Bengals had a winning season (9-7) and played in the postseason was 1990. The franchise is 53-123 since its last playoff game.

        “Sometimes, you sacrifice a little for the future in (salary) cap room and the like,” Brown said. “We're not going to do that. We've evolved to it. It's watching other teams (St. Louis, Baltimore and New England) do it the same way.”

        Those teams are the past three Super Bowl champions, and they were a combined 17-31 the year before they won the title. The Rams were 4-12 in 1998. The Ravens were 8-8 in 1999. The Patriots were 5-11 in 2000.

        The Bengals were 6-10 in 2001.

        “We need to be more successful than we've been,” Brown said. “We need it for ourselves. We need it for the team. We need it for our fans. We need it for the city. There are a lot of reasons to want it. Yet we know how hard it is to achieve. We've tried to achieve it before. It would be sweet to win.”

        The Bengals are trying to add two-time Pro Bowler Sam Adams, who hadn't made up his mind by the end of business Tuesday.

        They're offering the defensive tackle a three-year, $9million contract, and he's not the type of player — 29, coming off a knee injury — the Bengals would have gone after in the past.

        He's not young and he's not cheap.

        The possible signing of Adams could prevent the Bengals from extending the contracts of linebackers Brian Simmons and Takeo Spikes, but Brown has said those negotiations can wait until after the season if they don't go well now.

        Question: What are your major reasons for optimism this season?

        Answer: “We're coming off an improved performanc e. We're a team that is now certainly an experienced defensive team, (and) a team that seemed to get its legs under it late in the season offensively. That more than anything else gives me optimism. We've added some people in free agency that will help a little bit. We've added some people in the draft, and that will help, too, but probably later. I feel we are an improved team. And the players, I know, think they can win. I don't know why they can't win.”

        Q: Anything that concerns you?

        A: “Well, that's my job, to be concerned about things. I could probably stand here a long while and tell you things that I worry about, but this isn't the time to worry unduly.”

        Q: The key seems to be the quarterback play, where Jon Kitna and Gus Frerotte will compete for the starting job.

        A: “The quarterback has to be the hub of the wheel. He has to make things go. I'm wedded to that idea. I know that people can point to Baltimore and New England, and maybe it has evolved some. Still, when you have a quarterback who can win games for you, instead of you winning games in spite of him, that's a way to have a contending team year after year. Just look at (Kurt) Warner in St. Lo uis and (Brett) Favre in Green Bay. You put those guys on our team, and I wonder what you would see.

        “We haven't come up with the guy there who would be, year after year, the guy you're comfortable with. And that's a problem we share with about three-quarters of the teams in this league.”

        Q: What needs to be accomplished at training camp?

        A: “Well, the quarterback thing will be s orted out. We have to see how (wide receiver Michael) Westbrook fits in and the wide receivers line up. We'll be curious about the left tackle slot, where Levi Jones goes. I could go on and on. There are two dozen or more questions to be resolved.”

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