By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A week ago, the 49ers played in 58-degree weather in San Francisco and scored 50 points.

The 36-point victory against hapless Arizona improved the 49ers' home record to 6-1. They are 6-7 overall.

Conditions today in Cincinnati will be far different in several ways.

The weather: The forecast calls for a high temperature of 33 degrees with a chance of snow or flurries.

The opponent: The 7-6 Bengals are fighting for their playoff life. They are home for the first time since defeating Kansas City on Nov. 16. They'll be in front of a sold-out crowd and haven't lost consecutive games since Sept. 21.

The road: Though the 49ers are five games over .500 at home, they are 0-6 away from the moderate California climate. At 3COM Park, they have a 219-82 scoring edge. On the road, the 49ers have been outscored 162-72.

The road might be more of a challenge to the 49ers than weather.

"It's a California team, but they're not all from California," Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna said, "and we're not all from Ohio.

"We've got a whole bunch of Miami (Fla.) guys and those kinds of places. Everybody would like to play in ideal conditions, but you just play in what you have to play in."

San Francisco coach Dennis Erickson dismissed the idea that the cold will negatively affect his team.

Asked earlier this week if his team had yet to play in inclement weather, Erickson said, "Yeah, it's raining right now pretty good. We get that. Now obviously we don't get snow but we get our share of rain out here, rain and wind."

He appeared to be more concerned about his team's problems playing on the road.

"You stop talking about it, but the reality is, you've got to play better," Erickson said. "You can stop talking about it, but they still know it."

Erickson's right. His players are painfully aware of the home-road disparity.

"It can't help but drive you nuts," 49ers defensive lineman Chidi Ahanotu said. "We know what kind of team we are, a team that shows up and blows people out. Then when we lose, there's a lapse. I've never seen anything like it."

The reasons are more psychological than physical.

"The attitude is like night and day," Ahanotu said. "Guys are loose and ready to party and put on a show. They're fired up. That's how we are at home. On the road of late, it's the exact opposite. We're sleepwalking. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen."

The Bengals aren't counting on the 49ers sleepwalking today.

"I put no significance on it. I know what kind of football team they are. They went (10-6) last year, went into the playoffs," Kitna said. "I'm not going to even think about what's happened to them this year because they could very easily be around 12-4 again this year if they'd made some kicks early in the year."

Under coach Marvin Lewis, the Bengals have improved at home and on the road. Their 3-4 record on the road - the remaining game is Dec. 21 at St. Louis - is the franchise's best since 1995. And the Bengals have the opportunity to win for the fifth time at home for the first time since the 1997 team finished 6-2 at Cinergy Field. The Bengals are aiming for a fifth consecutive home victory in the same season since the 1997 team won its last five at Cinergy.

The winning ways at home have caught fans' attention. The game today is the Bengals' fourth home sellout, and the season finale Dec. 28 against Cleveland - already a sellout - gives the Bengals a franchise-high five in the four-year history of Paul Brown Stadium.

Kitna and Lewis are looking for the same home-field advantage that they had to fight the past three weeks at San Diego, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

"We all were there, over there, last week, and how great that is," Lewis said of the Baltimore crowd that disrupted the Bengals' offense. "That's what our stadium has been. That's what you want to come and be a part of is the atmosphere of a sold-out stadium, and being a part of it, having fun there, and - you know - doing your part."

Earlier this season, Lewis and some Bengals encouraged fans to make noise when the Bengals are on defense.

"The crowd didn't have to learn to be loud," Kitna said. "We needed to give them something to be loud for, and now we've done that."

---

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Return to Bengals front page...