By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PITTSBURGH - The Bengals were the team with one victory going nowhere, yet they were tight and played not to lose Sunday. The Pittsburgh Steelers, clinging to a half-game division edge, were the team that had blown a 17-0 lead, but they played to win.

The Steelers rallied for a 29-21 victory at Heinz Field, dropping the Bengals to 1-10 - their fifth consecutive double-digit loss season and ninth in the past 12 years. The Bengals' composite record since the start of the 1991 season is 54-133.

Pittsburgh is 6-4-1, and the Bengals' loss was their 39th in a row on the road to a team with a winning record. That streak dates to December 1990.

This season, the Bengals have two fewer victories than any NFL team. Five clubs, including the expansion Houston Texans, have three wins.

"It is what it is. We're 1-10. We're not very good," Bengals linebacker Takeo Spikes said. "The effort is supposed to be there. I hate to hear when guys say we played hard. You're supposed to play hard."

For the third time in fives games, the Bengals were stopped on downs inside the 5-yard line with chances to take the lead or tie.

On Sunday, trailing 29-21, they had a first-and-goal on the Pittsburgh 5. But four consecutive passes were incomplete, including the fourth-down throw from Jon Kitna to play-making receiver Chad Johnson in the corner of the end zone.

Steelers cornerback Chad Scott knocked the ball away from Johnson, who ended with 152 receiving yards to become the first Bengals player to have three consecutive 100-yard receiving games since Carl Pickens in 1994.

But that series wasn't the problem.

On a day when first-game NFL kicker Jeff Reed made three field goals kicking out of a sandbox, Bengals coach Dick LeBeau twice eschewed field-goal attempts by his own kicker, Neil Rackers, who has made six in a row.

After falling behind 7-0 on a Jerome Bettis 1-yard run, the Bengals drove 38 yards to the Pittsburgh 29-yard line. But instead of letting Rackers try from 47 yards at the closed end of Heinz Field, LeBeau went for a first down on fourth-and-9.

Kitna's 5-yard pass to Corey Dillon came up short.

"In the warm-ups, to be a high percentage kick, we had to be down around the 25, and that was the yard line we were going from," LeBeau said. "We were nowhere near the 25. We just played the percentages."

Rackers declined to comment after the game.

The Steelers needed just three plays to take a 14-0 lead. Quarterback Kordell Stewart, who completed 22 of 26 passes in his first start since Sept.29, threw a 15-yard out to Hines Ward that Ward turned into a 64-yard touchdown.

The Bengals trailed 17-0 before scoring. Two Dillon touchdown runs capped 75- and 92-yard drives on consecutive possessions and drew the Bengals within 17-14.

The Bengals also had a chance on their first second-half possession.

Brandon Bennett returned the kickoff 52 yards - the third straight game he returned a kickoff 50 or more yards - to the Pittsburgh 40. The Bengals' drive stalled at the 29-yard line, and LeBeau sent Rackers out for an apparent 47-yard attempt.

Instead, LeBeau called for a pooch-punt, and Rackers dropped a kick to the 10 that Scott returned 4 yards. The strategy was worth a 15-yard gain in field position.

"I thought it worked well," LeBeau said.

The teams traded punts before the Steelers scored again. Reed's 43-yard field goal was set up by a 44-yard pass-interference penalty on Bengals strong safety JoJuan Armour on a pass play from wide receiver Antwaan Randle El to Plaxico Burress.

"I favored Hines instead of Plaxico," Armour said. "Then I broke off and it was too late. It was my fault. I take responsibility for it."

Still, the Bengals weren't done. After stopping Stewart on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches from the Cincinnati 36, the Bengals drove 64 yards for a game-leading touchdown. Kitna hit rookie tight end Matt Schobel with a 20-yard strike, and Rackers' extra point gave the Bengals a 21-20 lead.

The Bengals forced the Steelers to punt on their next possession, but T.J. Houshmandzadeh - for the second consecutive week - fumbled a fourth-quarter punt return. The defense forced Pittsburgh to try a 45-yard field goal, which Reed barely made.

"I'm back there just hoping I catch the punt, and I can't believe I'm thinking about that," Houshmandzadeh said. "And I catch the punt and I fumble it. The way I'm playing isn't the way I should play to help the team win."

The Steelers forced another Bengals punt with 3:45 left. Instead of sitting on the ball, Pittsburgh ran a play-action fake to Bettis, then Stewart lofted a 37-yard pass to Ward. He caught the ball between Jeff Burris and Artrell Hawkins.

"It pushed the defense on their heels," Stewart said of the play-action play. "It was an aggressive call. In order to win tight games, we have to think aggressive."

On the next play, Bettis ran 24 yards for a touchdown.

The loss, the Bengals' sixth in seven Kitna starts, masked another strong performance by their quarterback. Kitna threw for 298 yards and one touchdown, and he has 10 touchdown passes and three interceptions in his past five games.

"What concerns me right now is that in the fourth quarter, we're not making the plays that are necessary to win the game," Kitna said. "They're not out-of-the-ordinary plays. They're routine plays."

E-mail: mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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