If you are the Bengals, still trying to make the mental leap from losers to winners, the difference between 1-3 and 2-2 is monumental.

At 2-2, with a week off, you're looking good.

At 1-3, with a week to stew, you're digging a familiar hole.

At 2-2, you're making progress everyone can see.

At 1-3, you're making progress only coaches can see.

2-2: You're in the game in the AFC North.

1-3: Your nose is pressed against Pittsburgh's window.

2-2: You avoid the traditional slow start that makes the next three months an exercise in chopping wood.

1-3: Break out the axes.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos from Sunday's game

The loss moved Willie Anderson, unofficial Bengals spokesman and official team conscience, to issue a challenge of sorts: "We've got to find out who our dogs are, who the warriors are on this team. It's going to take some real warrior-type guys," he said.

The beat-up Bengals had a chance to steal a game in the division on the road. An organization still seeking affirmation that it can overcome bad luck, bad calls and bad medical reports didn't get any of that here Sunday. "I hate to have to repeat (myself)," was how Lewis opened his postgame discussion.

No need, coach. We know the drill.

Lewis and his players took solace in the notion that 1-3 last year became 8-6 in December. That's cold comfort for a team and its fans numbed by crushed expectations year after decade.

The reason Sunday stung so much was the Steelers were ready to be had. Their QB was making his second pro start. Their running back lost two fumbles. Their defense couldn't contain Palmer in the third quarter, or Rudi Johnson at all. With 8:35 left in the third, Cincinnati led 17-14 and Heinz Field was silent.

If you're going to establish your credentials as a player in the playoff chase, you take the game by the throat right then, and show you're ready for prime time. Instead, Steelers running back Duce Staley overcame his bobbles to run for 34 yards in an 89-yard drive that put Pittsburgh back ahead, 21-17 with 9:03 to go.

Steelers rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is miles better than Baltimore's Kyle Boller was last week. So are his receivers. But the obvious way to beat the Steelers was the same as it was against the Ravens: Shut down the running game and make the kid QB throw. For the second straight week, the defense couldn't do it.

No amount of rebuilding is going to succeed, no amount of Carson Palmer pyrotechnics will make a difference, if the defense can't play the run. As it was, Palmer made another crucial mistake at another crucial time. Palmer will delight you and drive you nuts, usually in the same game. This is what first-year quarterbacks do.

The Palmer that led a 14-play drive in the third quarter by going 4-for-4 on third downs was the same Palmer who gift-wrapped the interception to Troy Polamalu that iced the loss.

You could look at that 14-play TD march and say, "There's a kid QB, growing up right before our eyes." Palmer was 10-for-13 just in the third quarter. You could look at the interception - thrown into double-coverage, with no looks to any other receiver - and say, "There's a kid QB, acting his age."

The promising thing about Palmer is he handles the good and the bad with equal concern. He has a veteran's head, outwardly. The sooner he begins making veteran decisions regularly, the better chance the Bengals will have of being legitimate playoff contenders.

Right now, they're not contending for anything but a here-we-go-again migraine. Given their history, it's a very big headache. "The game's not over" was what Jon Kitna said to Palmer on the sideline, after Polamalu's pick. Kitna was talking about one play; he could have been describing the next 13 weeks.

"We've got to get our thoughts right and our bodies right going into Cleveland" was Palmer's take on the game against the Browns, two Sundays from now.

Time for the warriors to break out the axes.

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E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com

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