By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Regardless of their record, the Bengals have always been good for a few December victories at home. But on Sunday, before the smallest Bengals crowd in 22 games at Paul Brown Stadium - 44,878 - they found a way to lose a game they seemed to have had won at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Baltimore Ravens scored 13 points in the final 15 minutes - the first seven on a blocked Bengals punt returned for a touchdown - and held on to win 27-23.

The Bengals are 1-11 for the fourth times in franchise history and must win two of their final four games to avoid finishing with the franchise's worst record.

For the fourth time in the past six games, the Bengals had the ball in the red zone late in the fourth quarter - with a chance to take the lead or tie - and came away with no points.

"We could have won any of those games, and there were several times when we kind of had this one won," said coach Dick LeBeau, whose Bengals lost for the 18th time in their past 21 games. "They do hurt more as you go along, for all of us, but the answer to that is don't let it go on. Win the game."

LeBeau is 11-30 as head coach. The loss dropped his winning percentage to .2683, just a tad better than Dave Shula's career mark of 19-52 (.2676), which is the worst in Bengals history.

The Bengals lost two good-sized leads, 13-0 and 23-14, to a team that - if the NFL were baseball - is Triple-A at best.

Still, the young, rebuilding Ravens made the big plays in the clutch, and the Bengals did not.

With the Bengals leading 13-6, with a second down on the Baltimore 8-yard line, Jon Kitna's pass for Corey Dillon was intercepted and returned 98 yards for a touchdown by Ravens rookie safety Chad Williams.

With the Bengals leading 23-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter, Williams blocked Nick Harris' punt, and rookie wide receiver Ron Johnson scooped up the ball and ran 22 yards for the touchdown.

"That's just game plan - coming up and under and getting inside on the rush," Harris said. "On the punt before that, they got really close, too, and that excited them. So they really went for it."

Trailing 27-23, the Bengals had a first down on the Ravens' 13-yard line with 1:15 remaining. But three plays yielded just 3 yards, and third-year defensive end Adalius Thomas batted away Kitna's pass intended Dillon. Game over.

"We're missing by the same 2 or 3 inches other teams are missing by, and ours are turning into disasters," said Kitna, who threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns.

Jeff Blake had just 115 yards passing, but the former Bengals quarterback had a triumphant return nonetheless. Blake evened his record as Baltimore's starter at 3-3, with two of his victories coming over the Bengals.

The Ravens are 6-6 and tied with the Cleveland Browns for second place in the AFC North.

Speaking of the division, the loss to Baltimore gives the Bengals an 0-6 record in the AFC North in the first season of realignment.

Blake, who threw touchdown passes of 39 and 22 yards, to Travis Taylor and Todd Heap, tried to say all the nice things about the Bengals but ended up taking a swipe at them anyway.

"When you play teams that have a different caliber, you play at their level," Blake said. "It's a lot easier to play a team like Pittsburgh than it is a team like the Bengals because you try not to play at their level."

The Ravens didn't play at the Bengals' level for most of the game. They played beneath them. The Bengals had three sacks - by Tony Williams, Justin Smith and Bernard Whittington - and the Ravens had none.

The Bengals finished with 381 yards of offense and 25 first downs, compared to 247 yards and 15 first downs for Baltimore.

The Bengals had 350 or more yards of net offense in their last six games, a streak unequaled by a Cincinnati team since 1986. But the 2002 team is 1-5 in that stretch.

Turnovers were costly to the Bengals on Sunday.

They had two - the Kitna interception and a Kitna fumble accidentally caused by Dillon in the fourth quarter. The Bengals had the ball at the Baltimore 26, and Dillon knocked the ball from Kitna's hands with his shoulder while he was sliding around him to block. Thomas recovered at the 31. Blake then led the winning drive of 69 yards on 11 plays.

"We have to avoid making it so hard at the end of the game, where we'll be able to win these types of games," said linebacker Takeo Spikes, who led the Bengals with 11 tackles.

The Bengals' defense allowed just two touchdowns, but it again had trouble stopping the run.

Bengals slayer Jamal Lewis had 121 yards rushing, including a long of 29. The Bengals gave up 148 yards on the ground, the eighth time in 12 games that the other team has run for 134 or more yards. It was Lewis' fourth 100-yard rushing game against the Bengals - all Baltimore victories.

The Bengals play at Carolina on Sunday against the 4-8 Panthers.

The Bengals are 54-134 since their last playoff game, but they have been outstanding at home in December in that stretch.

They came in with an 18-6 record at home in December since the start of 1991 season, but even that good luck has fallen victim to the almost indescribable ways the Bengals have found to lose.

LeBeau isn't giving up.

"We can win four," he said, "and that's what our goal will be."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

1-11 at a glance

Worst of the worst

The Bengals' 1-11 start matches the worst in the franchise's history:

2002	1-11
1993	1-11
1991	1-11
1978	1-11

0-for-AFC North

The Bengals finished 0-6 against teams in their division.

Attendance

The crowd of 44,878 at Paul Brown Stadium was the smallest for a Bengals game.

Big-play day

Three big plays led the Ravens to the victory:

Jon Kitna was intercepted by Ravens rookie Chad Williams, who returned it 98 yards for a touchdown with 19 seconds left in the first half, giving Baltimore a 14-13 lead.

Williams blocked Nick Harris' punt, and it was picked up and returned 22 yards for a touchdown by rookie Ron Johnson. The extra point cut the Bengals' lead to 23-21.

Corey Dillon collided with Kitna, forcing a fumble that was recovered by the Ravens' Adalius Thomas. Baltimore drove 69 yards, taking a 27-23 lead on Jeff Blake's 22-yard TD pass to tight end Todd Heap.

Bengals' remaining schedule

Date	Team
Sunday	at Carolina (4-8)
Dec. 15	Jacksonville (5-7)
Dec. 22	New Orleans (7-4), n
Dec. 29	at Buffalo (6-6)

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