By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals went back to work Monday with dual purposes of correcting mistakes from Sunday's opener and preparing for Oakland.

The two are not mutually exclusive, and coach Marvin Lewis said the best way to deal with the pressure is to stay the course.

"We'll be fine. You can't change the pressure," Lewis said. "There's no way to change the pressure except to go do it. We're not going to change it until we go win. We're going to lay a foundation. It's not going to be based on no flim-flam. We have to go do it right."

An act of succumbing to the pressure would have been to pull quarterback Jon Kitna from Sunday's 30-10 loss to Denver.

"No question, no question," Lewis said. "Right now, he's our best option."

Kitna threw two interceptions and lost one of two fumbles. Fans at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium booed him early and often. They wanted to see Shane Matthews or Carson Palmer.

But the team, Lewis said of a quarterback change, "doesn't need that. We're going to get this figured out with Jon and take that pressure off his shoulders. You can't play thinking about that kind of pressure."

The pressure and desire to win are so great, Lewis said, that many of his players - including Kitna - are trying to win games by themselves.

One of Kitna's interceptions - on a shovel pass - was returned for a touchdown.

"I didn't play my best game," Kitna said. "For me, that's the nature of the position. You're trying to compete. You're just not trying to look good. You're trying to win the game.

"It's hard to get yourself programmed to take a sack sometimes or throw the ball 5 yards on a third and 15."

Trying to do too much showed in defensive linemen who didn't stay in their assigned spots because they wanted to compensate for errors made on previous plays.

Oakland has different strengths than Denver. The Raiders' pass offense is one of the NFL's best, while its rush offense is not as strong as the Broncos'.

The balancing act of preparation and correction involves "limiting the focus of what you do," Lewis said, "and that's all you have to worry about."

Right tackle Willie Anderson said each player on the offensive line - which yielded four sacks, three tips of Kitna passes and a dozen hurries - has to do his job better to make the entire group better.

"It's a lot of technical stuff," Anderson said of Sunday's problems. "As a group, we have to take it upon ourselves and not have Kitna subjected to the boos. A lot of it wasn't his fault."

Lewis did point out some specific areas that need improvement: "We have to play better on third down on both sides of the football. We have to do better in the red zone on both sides of the football."

The Bengals scored only a field goal in their one possession inside the Denver 20-yard line. The Broncos had two touchdowns on three trips inside the 20 and were 2-for-2 on goal-to-go opportunities.

On third down, the Broncos converted 6-of-14 chances (43 percent), and the Bengals were just 3-for-12 (25 percent).

"That's the challenge of the week, not only to play the Raiders but to realize that after all the things we invested, we're OK," Lewis said. "Just go play, and that's the message."

The correction process actually began on the sidelines during the game Sunday.

"Some guys learn differently, but part of winning and losing in the NFL is fixing those things on the sidelines," Lewis said. "In a lot of ways, that was a new concept for some guys."

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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