A road less traveled: Bengals seek rare win in Pittsburgh

A road less traveled: Bengals seek rare win in Pittsburgh
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By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Not even Chad Johnson is brave enough to guarantee this one.
No longer the fumbling, bungling Bengals of the last dozen seasons, Cincinnati arrives in Pittsburgh on Sunday in a totally unimaginable position -- first place in the AFC North in late November. And with a highly improbable scenario awaiting it.
Not only can the NFL's longtime model for ineptitude and persistent futility run its winning streak to four games, the Bengals (6-5) could all but bury their longtime division tormentors, the Steelers (4-7), even before the calendar has turned to December.
Not even the bold-talking Johnson was prescient enough to forecast this game could be the springboard for a franchise that hasn't been to the playoffs since those wacky days of Sam Wyche and Ickey Woods in 1990.
Yet as startling as it might seem, a Bengals team that won only 12 games the previous three seasons would be at least tied for first going into Baltimore (6-5) next week if it wins for the sixth time in seven games Sunday.
"This game is as big as any," Bengals linebacker Kevin Hardy said. "It will put us one step closer and hopefully dims their hopes."
Dim them? For weeks now, the Steelers' playoff chances have been as gloomy as a February afternoon in Pittsburgh. But for all their Bengals-like blundering this season, including a recent stretch of six losses in seven games, the Steelers could quietly creep within a game of Cincinnati by winning.
Maybe that's why Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, the former Steelers assistant, has been waving a yellow caution flag all week. He understands that while the Bengals are starting to turn the corner, they have yet to win a big game in Pittsburgh, which has taken six of the last nine AFC North or AFC Central championships.
Cincinnati has dropped three straight in Pittsburgh and is just 3-9 there with Bill Cowher as Steelers coach, with two victories coming against out-of-the-running Steelers teams in 1998 and 1999. The Steelers also have won six of seven against Cincinnati, losing only a meaningless late-December game in 2001.
"It's Pittsburgh," Lewis said. "If we're going to go where we want to go then we have to beat Pittsburgh. ... Without us beating them, we don't have to worry about the playoffs."
Despite all that Cincinnati has going for it -- a hot quarterback in Jon Kitna, the double-headed running game led by Rudi Johnson and Corey Dillon, and a big-play receiver in Johnson -- the Steelers aren't conceding the division race.
They've already won in Cincinnati, 17-10 on Sept. 21 behind Tommy Maddox's 240 yards passing and Jerome Bettis' touchdown run. And just when they were being compared to the worst Steelers teams since the 1960s, they've began to rebound from a 2-6 start by winning two of their last three.
"They'll play as though they're 11-0, they're not going to play like whatever their record is," Lewis said. "They're going to be confident, they're going to be aggressive. What do you have to lose?"
In division games, the Steelers don't lose often at all. They're 3-1 in the AFC North and 9-1 over the last two seasons, which provides them some encouragement because they have games remaining against Cincinnati and Baltimore.
"The title still has to come through Pittsburgh," wide receiver Hines Ward said. "We know that. Cincinnati is playing with a lot of confidence right now, but we're looking forward to the challenge."
For the Steelers to overhaul Cincinnati and Baltimore, Maddox needs to regain the groove he had while throwing for 456 yards and two touchdowns in his previous two starts against Cincinnati.
Maddox was only 9-of-24 for 73 yards in last week's Bettis-led 13-6 victory at Cleveland. But he will be facing a Bengals secondary that has allowed two 300-yard passing performances and 11 touchdown passes the last five games.
Bettis ran for a season-high 93 yards against Cleveland, one of the few signs of life the Steelers' 31st-ranked rushing offense has shown since gaining 138 yards in Cincinnati. But while the Steelers have only three 100-yard rushing games all season, the Bengals have run for at least 200 yards in each of their last three games.
With so many contrasting numbers, no wonder Johnson isn't offering up a prediction.
"We have to break this trend (against the Steelers)," Kitna said. "We've been breaking trends all year. We have to go out and continue to do that this week."