By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Quarterback Jon Kitna received votes of confidence from Bengals coach Dick LeBeau and team president Mike Brown on Monday.

But Kitna, who has strung together four outstanding games, wondered aloud if he would be given the opportunity to play all of the Bengals' last six games.

Brown said earlier this season that if the Bengals fell from playoff contention, he would be interested in seeing third-stringer Akili Smith or even practice-squad QB Joe Germaine play.

"If they're going to change the quarterback, that just goes to prove the fact that we're not interested in winning in the long term here," Kitna said. "All we're worried about is the bottom line."

Kitna has a lot of money riding on his playing time. He will earn a $1.625 million bonus for next year, on top of his $1 million base salary, if he plays 80 percent of the Bengals' offensive snaps this season. He is on pace to barely miss 80 percent even if he plays every projected snap in the six remaining games.

Asked if his bonus would play into a Bengals' decision to bench him, Kitna said, "What do you think?"

When LeBeau named Kitna the starter before Game 5, LeBeau said Kitna was "the guy" and didn't want Kitna "looking over his shoulder."

Said Kitna: "He made a statement, and I believe coach LeBeau is a man of his word. So I think if it was up to him, then, let's be honest (long pause), I'm not going to get into that today."

Kitna has let his play do his talking. In the past four games, he has nine touchdown passes, three interceptions and 986 yards. He has 10 TD passes and nine interceptions in his six starts, and his passer rating of 82.4 is 12th of 16 rated AFC quarterbacks. The Bengals are 1-5 in his starts, mainly because the defense has allowed an average of 26.7 points.

"Jon has played effective, well enough for us to win," Brown said Monday. "As long as he plays at that level, I think he should be our quarterback. But that's not my decision."

The decision, say Brown and LeBeau, belongs to LeBeau.

"I do meet with Mike, and Mike is our owner and general manager," LeBeau said. "He doesn't tell me who to play at quarterback."

In Kitna's six starts, the Bengals are averaging almost 23 points. In the previous four games, they scored 23 total.

After this season, Kitna has two years left on his contract.

He earned a $1 million bonus for this season by playing 80 percent of the offensive snaps in 2001. If he plays 80 percent of the snaps in 2003, he would earn a $2.375 million bonus in 2004.

"Jon is certainly a factor in our future," Brown said.

Kitna, who started 15 games in 2001, lost the job to Gus Frerotte after the third preseason game. Frerotte started the first three regular-season games and was replaced in the second quarter by Kitna in Game 3 at Atlanta. Smith started the fourth game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"(Kitna) and others have argued it would have been better if he had been in the saddle from the start," Brown said. "He's probably right with that. But that's all behind us. Nothing can change that. I am pleased with the way he has played."

So is LeBeau.

"I don't know why this question keeps coming up," LeBeau said when asked if Kitna would continue to playing, "but we're going to play these games one at a time.

"Kitna is playing well. Is he playing perfectly? No. Am I coaching perfectly? No. We are getting into one-play games now, and, unfortunately, they're not going in our favor. Anybody that's watched us play knows that we're playing hard and playing better. There were times earlier this season when we couldn't talk about this play or that play. So our football team is improving."

Kitna's 80 percent quest

Jon Kitna needs to play in 80 percent of the Bengals' offensive snaps this season to earn a $1.625 million bonus in 2003. Here's a breakdown of how he stands right now:

The Bengals have run 642 offensive plays in 10 games, which projects to 1,027 for the entire 16-game schedule.

Kitna has played 431 snaps, compared to 146 for Gus Frerotte and 65 for Akili Smith.

If Kitna plays the remaining 385 projected snaps, he would finish with 816 snaps of the 1,027.

That comes out to 79.45 percent.

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