A year ago, the Bengals were riding a wave of euphoria and a 2-0 record. Players chastised fickle fans and harbored Super Bowl dreams after beating the league's elite - eventual Super Bowl champion New England and then-reigning Super Bowl winner Baltimore -in the first two games at Paul Brown Stadium.

        A year ago, Dick LeBeau was lauded for re-routing the Bengals in his first full season as head coach, rebounding from Bruce Coslet's 2000 mess: an 0-3 start, his resignation and a 4-12 final record.

        A year ago, the Bengals' biggest problem was Neil Rackers, who missed three field goals against the Ravens.

        Fast-forward a year and the Bengals are 0-2, having been outscored 54-13 and producing just one touchdown in eight quarters. Considering this year's checklist of problems - from coaches to play-calling to quarterbacks - last season's 2-0 start was a dream.

        But LeBeau remains undaunted.

        “In this league, every Sunday's a challenge. If you don't play well enough, you could be 0-2 pretty quickly,” LeBeau said. “We didn't really give ourselves a chance the first week. I thought we played a pretty competitive game (against the Cleveland Browns), but we didn't win.”

        The numbers are more telling:

        The Bengals have posted 0-2 starts 12 times in franchise history. They've never had a winning season with an 0-2 start.

        The Bengals have had 11 winning seasons since 1968.

        The Bengals' worst start was in 1993 under coach Dave Shula, who led them to an 0-10 record.

        Since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, only 17 teams (out of 176) that started 0-2 have made the playoffs.

        Speaking of playoffs, do the Bengals believe they'll be able to contend?

        “No question. It's real early,” Bengals backup quarterback Jon Kitna said. “I guarantee we don't feel as bad as New England did last year, and they went to the Super Bowl and won it. You going to tell me they had better personnel than us? There's no way.”

        The Patriots started 0-2 last season before winning Super Bowl XXXVI.

        It's hard to imagine a similar fate for the Bengals, who are statistically dismal compared to most NFL teams. They lead where they don't want to lead: first in interceptions (four) and tied for second in sacks allowed (nine).

        Though some critics have demanded a QB change, current starter Gus Frerotte thinks patience is the key.

        “We just have to get to know each other a little better,” Frerotte said. “There's a lot of things that happened, just watching the first half of the (Cleveland) game, that we can definitely learn from.”

        Players and coaches have shied away from pointing fingers at the club's weak links. But the Bengals, who have used only two of their five top draft picks (offensive tackle Levi Jones and tight end Matt Schobel), have yet to be dazzled by veteran newcomers Jeff Burris (cornerback), Michael Westbrook (wide receiver) or Frerotte.

        Kitna is confident success will come soon. In the meantime, he questions fans' erratic responses.

        “I don't know what people want,” he said. “They tried to boo me out of the stadium in the preseason games and wanted Gus in there. Now he's in there and they want to boo him in the first games of the year. What is that? What can we do?”

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