By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

As he did two weeks ago, wide receiver Chad Johnson on Wednesday guaranteed another Bengals victory. But Johnson's boast is more about supporting quarterback Jon Kitna than slamming Sunday's opponent, the Cleveland Browns.

Johnson is one of several Bengals players, especially on offense, who don't like management's talk of switching quarterbacks if the Bengals continue their losing ways.

"Stick with one thing and give it a chance," Johnson said. "We're going to win, and when we start winning, nobody is going to have nothing to say.

"We're going to win. No offense to (the Browns) - let me say that ahead of time - but we're going to get this one. We're going to get it."

Johnson and Bengals coach Dick LeBeau guaranteed a victory two weeks ago before the Bengals traveled to Houston to play the Texans. The Bengals won, 38-3, for the only victory of a 1-8 season.

The Browns are 4-5, and they are the Bengals' biggest rival. The Browns won 20-7 at Cleveland on Sept. 15.

The Bengals scored 23 points total in their first four games. They are averaging 23.4 in the five games Kitna has started.

Kitna, who started 15 games last season, lost the job in the preseason to Gus Frerotte. Frerotte started the first three games, Akili Smith the fourth.

"The quarterback situation - I mean, it's not our fault as players we put ourselves in this situation of being 0-4," Johnson said. "Now that the right decision has been made, we have been going uphill in points."

Bengals president Mike Brown has talked of starting Smith - and possibly practice squad quarterback Joe Germaine - once the Bengals officially are eliminated from the playoff hunt.

Many players want Kitna to remain the starter. They say he gives the Bengals their best chance to win now and in the near future.

"Kitna is a good enough quarterback to win in this league," fullback Lorenzo Neal said. "The offense is starting to jell. It's important that they let Kitna ride this thing out. He's going to win you some games, and you build on that for the future. It's important for this team, in order to win in the future, to maintain as much continuity as it can."

Which is exactly what the Bengals did not do this season. The Bengals started newcomer Frerotte on opening day, even through Kitna threw for 751 yards in two consecutive 2001 season-ending victories.

"If they want to work on something for next year and build for next year, hopefully they leave it the same," Kitna said Wednesday about the quarterback position. "But I said that last year, and it never got that way."

Even though the Bengals are 1-4 in his five starts, Kitna has played well. He has nine touchdown passes and nine interceptions in his five starts. In his past three starts, Kitna has thrown for 728 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions and has a 112.3 passer rating. The Bengals have averaged 29.7 points in those three games.

Kitna clearly would not agree with a decision to put him on the bench to see what Smith or Germaine might do.

"It seems to be the nature of the business and the nature of how things go around here - that when you're out of the playoff picture that they start to look at other avenues," Kitna said.

"We started 0-4, and there was no stability anywhere. We had different receivers every week. We had an offensive tackle (Levi Jones) playing tight end. We had quarterback questions every single week.

"We have started to put numbers up there that you're liking to see every week. The completion percentage is up. The third-down conversions are up. Not only is the passing yardage going up, but Corey's (Dillon) average per carry has gone up."

The offense cannot reach its full potential if the quarterback is changed, Kitna said.

"Any time you make changes where guys are playing well, you're basically saying, `We don't really care about the growth of the offense. We're just trying to check out individuals at that point.' When you start trying to check out individuals, then people start to play as individuals."

One individual who has played well with Kitna at QB is Johnson. In Kitna's five starts, Johnson has 29 receptions for 380 yards and two TDs.

Johnson has returned Kitna's attention with unabashed loyalty.

"If we had made the right decision from the beginning (starting Kitna), where would we be now?" Johnson asked. "We wouldn't be the 1-8."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com