By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - With 241 passing yards in Sunday's 27-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna finished with 3,178 yards this season. But he came up short on a more lucrative number, and said he didn't like the attention his bonus chase had attracted.
Kitna played in all of the Bengals' 55 offensive snaps against Buffalo. He needed to play in at least 61 of 61 snaps to reach 80 percent of the plays this season. The incentive would have added $1.625 million to his $1 million base salary in 2003.
For the season, Kitna played in 842 of the team's 1,054 offensive plays - or 79.886 percent.
Bengals president Mike Brown has intimated he will stick to the 80-percent mark for the bonus.
"The Jon Kitna watch, I really didn't enjoy that at all," Kitna said. "That was a big deal for everybody but me. A lot of guys on the team were talking about it. It was a national kind of thing. I thought it took the focus away from this game for us as a team.
"If I was supposed to make those plays, if God wanted me to get those plays, 61 plays, 80 percent for the year, everything would have been different -- not just today."
In Kitna's 12 starts, the Bengals averaged 357.3 yards and 21.3 points.
Kitna's passing yards - in just 12 starts and a relief appearance - gave the Bengals a 3,000-yard passer and a 1,000-yard rusher and receiver in the same season for the first time since 1989.
Corey Dillon had 53 rushing yards to finish with 1,311 - his third consecutive season with 1,300 or more.
And Chad Johnson, who had 123 receiving yards Sunday, finished his second NFL season with 1,166 yards.
GOOD COMPANY: Johnson's 100-yard receiving game was his fifth, tying a team record held by Carl Pickens, Eddie Brown and Tim McGee.
Pickens had five 100-yard games in 1994 and '95. Brown did it in 1988 and McGee in 1989.
Johnson's final numbers were 69 receptions, 1,166 yards and five touchdowns.
"I'll be sure to shatter that next year," Johnson said of the 100-yard games record. "I'm nowhere near as good as I can get."
Four Bengals wide receivers finished this season with 40 or more receptions. In addition to Johnson's 69 catches, Peter Warrick had 53, Ron Dugans 47 and T.J. Houshmandzadeh 40.
INDEFENSIBLE: For the sixth time this season, the Bengals fell behind Sunday by at least 20-0.
The Bills' 27 points also upped the total allowed by the Bengals this season to 456, five away from setting a futility record. The 1999 Bengals allowed 460 points; the 1998 team 452.
Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe was 23-of-31 passing for 231 yards, one touchdown and a 105.7 rating. It was the ninth time in 16 games that the opposing quarterback had a passer rating of 100 or more - which is an outstanding performance.
FREE AGENTS: The Bengals have 13 players on their roster whose contracts expire March3.
Eight of the players, five starters, will be unrestricted free agents: Linebacker Takeo Spikes, fullback Lorenzo Neal, center Rich Braham, and safeties JoJuan Armour and Cory Hall are the starters. The other three UFAs are defensive lineman Bernard Whittington, running back Nicolas Luchey and offensive lineman Jamain Stephens.
The restricted free agents are Dugans and Danny Farmer, kicker Neil Rackers, and long-snapper Brad St.Louis.
RACK 'EM UP: Neil Rackers made a 19-yard field goal, finishing this season 15 of 18 (83.3 percent), the second-best percentage in team history. Doug Pelfrey was 28 of 33 (84.8) in 1994.
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