By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The sad strings start. A lonely woodwind joins them.

The music of NFL Films rises and falls. Here comes the voice of John Facenda.

"And hopes that were high in the heat of September (cue trumpet fanfare) can wilt and die in the chill of November."

So it is with the 2002 Bengals.

This team, which entered the season as the one ordained to break the 11-year streak without a postseason appearance, officially was eliminated from the AFC playoff picture Sunday.

The drought is now 12 years.

And five games remain for the 1-10 Bengals.

"The motivation here and now is to spoil somebody else's holiday the way our holiday has been spoiled," Bengals coach Dick LeBeau said Monday. "All of these teams we have left to play are pretty much in the running, and we want to get in there and give them a few more losses."

The Bengals will open their post-elimination stretch Sunday, the first of five games in December, a month that has been their most successful the past 11 years.

Overall, since the start of the 1991 season, the Bengals are 54-133, a .289 winning percentage.

In December and January games in that time, the Bengals are 21-25, a .457 winning percentage.

Bengals players still want to win. Each game, they say, is a challenge worthy of an all-out effort.

"If you talk to players throughout the league, regardless of their situation, that's how they look at it," Bengals middle linebacker Brian Simmons said. "That's how you have to look at it. The season's too long to look at it as one. You have to look at is as 16 parts."

The first of the final five scenes will be played out Sunday, when former Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake leads the Baltimore Ravens into town. At 5-6, they're still in the hunt for a playoff spot. For the Bengals, it's a last chance to avoid going 0-6 against their three AFC North Division rivals.

Another piece of the final-month motivation should be to avoid having the worst record in franchise history. The 2002 Bengals need to win two of the last five games to finish 3-13, which stands as the poorest finish of any Cincinnati team (1991, '93, '94, '98).

The Bengals' loss Sunday at Pittsburgh makes for a fifth consecutive season of double-digit losses and nine of the past 12.

Questions surround the job security of LeBeau and his staff. Will Bengals president Mike Brown fire the entire group? Will LeBeau be back? Will LeBeau be gone, but certain assistant coaches come back?

LeBeau was asked Monday when and if he starts looking ahead to next season.

"I don't think you do to a dramatic extent," he said. "I think you have to be practical, very pragmatic in what your situation is. The franchise is ongoing. The franchise isn't 2002. I think you have to understand that.

"At the same time, there are still five football games remaining this season, and we've got some things that we want to get done."

Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna thinks there is plenty to play for.

He and the Rams' Marc Bulger are the league's hottest quarterbacks in their past five games. Kitna's 103.8 passer rating is second only to Bulger's 106.0 in that time.

While trying to deflect focus off his efforts to convince Bengals management that he deserves to be the quarterback, Kitna said the offense could benefit down the stretch.

"It's been a horrendous season, but we have a lot to try to build on," he said.