CINCINNATI Bengals try to end long playoff drought

The team hasn't had a winning season since 1990.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- With one more win, the Bengals can finally snap the streak that's as close to them as their tiger stripes.
They'd be losers no more.
The Bengals (8-7) can clinch their first winning season since 1990 with a victory Sunday over the Cleveland Browns. They can go one better and make the playoffs if they get their victory and Baltimore loses later in the day.
Regardless of how the Ravens' game turns out, the Bengals are on the verge of ending a streak that has historical significance.
"It gives you something legitimate to build off of and say this franchise is going in the right direction," Pro Bowl offensive tackle Willie Anderson said.
Former success
The Bengals haven't had a winning record since a 9-7 mark in 1990, when Sam Wyche was the head coach and franchise founder Paul Brown was still in the front office. One year later, the bottom fell out.
Over the next 12 seasons, the Bengals went 55-137 and bungled their way into the annals of NFL futility. They went 8-8 only once -- in 1996 -- and won four or fewer games in seven of those 12 seasons.
Few teams have been so bad.
The New Orleans Saints hold the distinction for long-term futility, failing to put up a winning record in any of their first 20 seasons. The Bengals' 12-year run of futility is the longest current streak.
Since the All-America Football Conference merged with the NFL for the 1950 season, only eight franchises have gone 10 or more years without a winning record. Tampa Bay went 14 seasons, while three others went 13 years.
Key game
If the Bengals lose to the Browns on Sunday, they would be eliminated from playoff contention and join that group of 13-year failures. If they beat the Browns and still miss out on the playoffs, they would still have a season they could consider a smashing success -- smashing that streak.
"We feel we've started something positive that hasn't been done a lot around here in the last 12 or 13 years," quarterback Jon Kitna said. "So to finish with a winning record, to be 9-7 after starting 0-3, that would be a great thing for us. Then you just let the chips fall where they may after that.
"That would be a great thing to build upon in the future, regardless of the playoffs."
There was no reason to think the losing streak would end this season. The Bengals opened 1-4 under first-year coach Marvin Lewis, then started their surprising surge into playoff contender.
No matter how the season winds up, it will be considered a success by most players and fans.
"We're winning, we're competing," receiver Chad Johnson said. "You ask any fan that's walking around -- if we lost to Cleveland, they'll probably be just as happy because we gave them something to watch this time. It was 'The Bengals' playing again."
Actually, they used to be called "The Bungles." That changed after they beat previously undefeated Kansas City and moved into a first-place tie in the AFC North on Nov. 16.
Need victory
A 9-7 record would make the transformation complete and reinforce the notion that those years of losing are history.
"It would be the first winning football season in 13 years," Lewis said. "I think it shows guys the legitimacy of what we do."
A winning record also would provide deep satisfaction for a team that has been associated with nothing but losing for so long.
"It would justify the hard work we did, and we put in a lot of hard work," Anderson said. "We had a lot of voluntary minicamps, a lot of weight room sessions -- all the things that you know players hate to do. We did those things.
"To end a season on a winning note and know you won a majority of your games, that's a reward."