By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Sunday's game

For about three and a half minutes Sunday, the Bengals' offense looked like the one that produced 416 yards a week earlier against the Oakland Raiders.

It moved 63 yards from its 20 to the Pittsburgh Steelers' 17 before quarterback Jon Kitna's pass was intercepted by linebacker Jason Gildon.

From that point on, the Bengals gained only 119 yards against the Steelers' defense.

And yet, to Bengals' coach Marvin Lewis, the offense appeared to be functioning pretty efficiently.

"I thought we moved the ball up and down the field," Lewis said.

When Lewis views the tape of the game, he will no doubt see what the 64,596 fans at Paul Brown Stadium saw - that the Bengals' offense sputtered.

How does the same team that gained 416 yards against the Raiders manage only 182 a week later against the Steelers?

"Every week's not going to be the same," said center Rich Braham. "Last week we had it clicking. We just couldn't score as much as we needed to. This week, it seemed like we didn't run the ball quite as well."

Playing without injured running back Corey Dillon, the Bengals managed only 57 yards on the ground. Brandon Bennett, Dillon's backup, had just 12 yards on six carries.

Quarterback Jon Kitna struggled, completing 16 of 24 passes for 157 yards, an average gain of 4.5 per pass play. Additionally, the Bengals managed only 11 first downs.

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