By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Quarterback Jon Kitna told Cincinnati.Com readers during a 30-minute online chat Thursday afternoon that the Bengals would make the playoffs if they won their final three games.

ONLINE CHAT

• Read the full transcript of Kitna's online chat.

Kitna responded to more than 50 questions from readers, some of whom wanted to know how long Kitna's run as Bengals quarterback would last before Carson Palmer would take over.

"We really don't need any help," Kitna wrote. "As long as we win our three games, we'll get in."

Asked if it were going to be hard to root for Pittsburgh and Cleveland the next few weeks when those teams play first-place Baltimore, Kitna wrote, "I root for a lot of teams I don't want to root for. My thing is, as long as we take care of our business and win out, we don't have to worry about the outside."

Of Palmer and when he would become the team's quarterback, Kitna wrote, "He's going to be phenomenal. ... We'll see what God has in store."

With 23 touchdown passes, Kitna is tied for the NFL lead with Brett Favre and Peyton Manning. The Bengals are on pace to score 346 points, the most since the 1997 team scored 355.

Asked about using all of the offensive personnel weapons available to him down the stretch, Kitna wrote, "Hopefully, we'll continue to get better each week. This is the time you want to peak, in December. Hopefully that will happen as the playoffs near."

The Bengals are 7-6 and a game behind the Ravens (8-5) in the AFC North. It is the Bengals' best division position since the 1990 team - the last in franchise history to make the playoffs - also was 7-6 en route to a 9-7 record. Another reader asked Kitna what the Bengals had to do to keep their roll going into the next few seasons.

"Keeping the core of guys together," Kitna wrote.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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