By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

For the third consecutive season, the Bengals have the lowest-rated passing quarterback in the NFL. It's not today's starter against Tennessee who's at the bottom of the passer-rating list, though. Jon Kitna is rated 34th at 54.5.

No, the lowest-rated passer is another Bengal, Gus Frerotte, who compiled a 46.1 rating while starting the season's first three games.

Kitna was last in 2001 at 61.1. And Akili Smith was last among rated passers in 2000 at 52.8.

A passer rating is compiled using four categories: percentage of completions, average yards gained per attempt, percentage of touchdown passes per attempt and percentage of interceptions per attempt.

Passer rating is just one way to measure how poorly the Bengals' pass offense has fared since the start of the 2000 season. It's a stretch of 38 games in which Bengals quarterbacks have thrown 20 touchdowns and 52 interceptions (running back Corey Dillon threw one in 2001).

The Bengals have changed quarterbacks, and the word around the club is that another bad game from Kitna could return him to the bench in favor of Smith.

The Bengals have changed head coaches and offensive coordinators. The only person who hasn't changed in the two-plus years of bottom-barrel passer ratings is quarterbacks coach Ken Anderson.

Anderson, the former Bengals quarterback, most often is singled out by fans frustrated with the team's inability to throw the ball effectively.

"This is not the first time I've been criticized," Anderson said. "In 1977, '78. '79 and '80 (as a player), I wasn't a real popular guy around here, either. Then we got Anthony Munoz, Cris Collinsworth and Max Montoya, and I got a lot better."

Anderson's point is, don't look at just the quarterback when trying to figure out why the Bengals pass offense has gone sour the past three seasons.

"I've always said the quarterback gets too much credit when things go well and too much blame when they don't," he said.

One of Anderson's duties as an assistant coach is to analyze each pass play. He and other coaches use a 15-category sheet to study each pass. Sometimes, the quarterback makes a bad pass. Other times there's too much pressure from the defense. A receiver might not get open, or he might drop a good pass.

"It's a little bit of everything," said Anderson, now in his 10th season as the Bengals' quarterbacks coach. He also was the offensive coordinator from 1996 through 2000.

Anderson has a big fan in Bengals president Mike Brown, who often is criticized for keeping Anderson on staff and for hiring him in the first place when he had no previous coaching experience on any level.

"You guys raise these questions and want me to accuse somebody of failure," Brown said when asked about Anderson's performance. "I head the list. I'm responsible for the overall, and it has not done well."

Anderson did have a good stretch in the mid-1990s, highlighted by Jeff Blake's Pro Bowl 1995 season.

While the Bengals have thrown more than twice as many interceptions as touchdown passes since Blake left town, they had 125 touchdown passes and 103 interceptions in Anderson's first seasons as an assistant coach.

This season, the Bengals have the fewest touchdown passes (2) and most interceptions (13) in the league. And neither Kitna nor second-year offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski - who replaced Anderson as coordinator - will blame Anderson.

"Kenny is great because he's been in there," Kitna said. "He's been through all the ups and downs. Our coaches are right in there with us."

Bratkowki's offense has averaged 12.1 points in 22 games since the start of the 2001 season. He inherited four offensive assistant coaches, including Anderson, when hired by coach Dick LeBeau.

"Kenny is an excellent quarterbacks coach," Bratkowski said. "He is extremely thorough. He's got some great creative ideas in terms of week-to-week game plan. I can't imagine having anyone else coaching the quarterbacks."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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