Monday, October 07, 2002
Bengals winless but not hopeless
QB Kitna could help change team attitude
INDIANAPOLIS — That ball Chad Johnson missed, that wasn't just the ballgame Sunday. It was the ballgame for the last 12 years, an across-the-middle metaphor for the worst team in the National Football League.
He should have caught it. Johnson was open, wide open, as open as a wide receiver can be with 31 seconds left in a seven-point game. He was inside the Indy 20 when the ball slapped off his hands and into the arms of a Colt named Idrees Bashir.
The Bengals lost, 28-21. They lost nobly, for a change. They freed Corey Dillon, they stuffed Edgerrin James, they found a quarterback (for now) after many months of typical bumbling. But they still lost.
“It's something to build on,” Dillon suggested. But when you're 0-5 with the legacy of this franchise crushing you like a grape, there is no building. Only bailing.
There was a lot of locker room spin about effort and spirit. We fought hard. Fighting hard is nice. Lots of teams fight hard. The ones who win don't talk much about it.
“I tried to run without the ball” was the extent of Chad Johnson's contribution to the discussion. Johnson had a good game until then. He'll have some more. When he takes care of his business, Johnson is a player. Only Sunday, he got Bengal-ed. It happens to all of them.
Jon Kitna knew this. He approached Johnson after the game and said, “I have more confidence in you after this game than I ever have.”
Good for Kitna. Too bad he isn't a better player. Because the Bengals third-option QB is vocal, candid and accountable. He has everything needed to be the leader they lack. But if he doesn't throw more TDs than interceptions, nobody will care.
On Sunday, Kitna threw for 244 yards and looked relaxed doing it. He also threw three picks, including one at the Colts 14 in the third quarter. Kitna isn't going to hit a lot of home runs, either. The dink-and-dunk offense was alive and well Sunday.
But he has Bengaldom figured. “Attitude,” he said, when asked about the chasm between his team and the rest of the league. “Until we all start believing in ourselves, you end up more on the losing end. I just hope today gave some guys some hope.”
When asked if a win were close, Kitna responded, “It depends on how much guys want to work this week.”
Is the situation approaching critical mass? Terry Bradshaw said Sunday that Mike Brown wanted to hire Dick Jauron away from the Chicago Bears to coach and general-manage the Bengals. Bradshaw says a lot of things, most of them very funny, like the Jauron thing.
The day Mike Brown brings in a general manager and lets the guy general-manage, we all better head for the caves of Montana, because the end of the world is very close at hand. The good news is, Jauron is from Yale. Brown likes Ivy Leaguers: Reggie Williams, Dave Shula, John Garrett. The bad news is, Jauron is from Yale. He's way too smart to take a job running this club.
Yet even a rumor of a change in Bengals management is significant; we've never even had that before. Maybe the decade-long fog is lifting from around Brown's stubborn head.
He can't win the way he runs things. It hasn't worked, isn't working and offers no reason to believe it ever will.
Mike Brown has held Cincinnati fans hostage to his beliefs far too long. Maybe he sees this.
Or maybe Terry Bradshaw was just joking.
Regardless, no Dick is going to change Cincinnati's 0-5 start. Nor Jon.
“I'm hoping I bring a different attitude than what you guys have seen in the past,” Kitna said.
A few wins would be good, too.
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Daugherty: Bengals winless but not hopeless
