Will Charlie be sorry? QB faces big challenge

Rookie Charlie Frye will get his second start today in Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- All season long, the Bengals have done an exemplary job of playing to their billing as the NFL's up-and-coming team, one finding its way back after 14 years in the wilderness.
Now, they have to get used to a new role: the prohibitive favorite.
The Bengals (9-3) have a chance to win the AFC North title today by beating the Browns (4-8) and having Pittsburgh lose to Chicago. With the tiebreakers in its favor, Cincinnati can win the division outright with as little as two wins in the last four games.
The Bengals could even get a first-round bye in the playoffs, more than anyone expected.
"I didn't know they were going to be the team that they are this year," Browns center Jeff Faine said. "I didn't doubt them or take them lightly. They have really grown."
First step
The growth spurt started in Cleveland on Sept. 11, a game the Bengals considered the turning point of their season. They knew an opening loss to an in-transition Cleveland team would prompt everybody to write them off.
They won 27-13, the first step in shedding their distinction as the league's least-successful team. They escaped one of their ghosts when they beat Pittsburgh 38-31 on Sunday, clinching their first winning record since 1990.
"The main ghost is to get into the playoffs, and we still haven't done that," offensive tackle Willie Anderson said. "Another main ghost is to win the division, and we still haven't done that.
"Once we do that, the next thing will be to win the playoff game and the next game after that to get into the AFC championship, and then do something this team has never done before, which is to win a Super Bowl."
They're already looking that far down the road.
Prediction
Receiver Chad Johnson predicts the Bengals will reach the AFC title game and win a rematch with the Indianapolis Colts, who came to Paul Brown Stadium last month and won 45-37.
"No disrespect," Johnson said. "I feel if we played them again, we'd win. That's it. I think everyone really has the same feeling on any team, but I might be one of the only ones who actually would come out and say it. It shouldn't come as a shock because I do it all the time."
The point of emphasis against Cleveland is to stop giving up so many points.
"On defense, we need to do some things better," linebacker Brian Simmons said. "Early on, we were doing a great job of keeping teams out of the end zone. For whatever reason, the last couple of weeks we haven't been doing as good of a job. We've got to get back to that.
"The way our offense is playing now, if we can get back to that, then we should have a lot of blowouts."
Good candidate
The Browns are a good candidate. They plan to give rookie quarterback Charlie Frye his second start, leaving him to a defense that leads the league with 26 interceptions, 10 more than any other team.
The last time the Bengals faced a rookie quarterback, they picked him apart. Chicago's Kyle Orton threw five interceptions and looked shellshocked during the Bengals' 24-7 win in the third game of the season.
Will Frye come away with the same look of horror? It's hard to say. Frye had a solid first half and a poor second one in a 20-14 loss to Jacksonville last Sunday.
"If you just look at the first half, you say yeah, he can do some things," coach Romeo Crennel said. "You look at the second half and you say, well, maybe he is not quite ready yet."
In Crennel's first season, the Browns have shown resilience. That 14-point loss to the Bengals in the opener was their most lopsided. Four of their eight defeats have been by a touchdown or less.