Bengals in position to end 14-year streak

CINCINNATI - Halfway home, the Bengals are poised to break one of the NFL's most enduring streaks.

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Just don't mention it, please.

A 21-14 victory Sunday over the Green Bay Packers left Cincinnati 6-2 at the season's midpoint, needing only three more wins the rest of the way to guarantee its first winning record since 1990.

With the schedule in the Bengals' favor - five of the last eight opponents currently have losing records - getting nine wins could be only a starting point.

"We've got a chance to win this division," quarterback Carson Palmer said.

It's been a long time since the Bengals could talk about titles at the halfway point. Cincinnati hasn't won a division since 1990, when it finished in a three-way tie with Houston and Pittsburgh at 9-7 but won the tiebreakers and the AFC Central title.

Then the Bengals fell into the great abyss, stringing together one of the longest streaks of futility in NFL history. During the last 14 years, they won five or fewer games eight times. They've already topped that mark at this season's midpoint.

Palmer is on pace to finish as one of the NFL's best passers in his second season as a starter, and the defense that dragged the team down for years is picking off passes at a record rate. Cincinnati has intercepted five passes in three games this season, the first team to do that since Kansas City in 1970.

"The turnovers are a big thing," Palmer said Monday. "Offensively, we've done a better job in the passing game. As a whole, we're a better team than last year. We've improved all over as a team."

They've even improved at keeping things in perspective.

Whenever they got off to a decent start during the last 14 years, they invariably got carried away with themselves. After opening the 2001 season with a pair of wins, players went to a local restaurant and sipped champagne.

Coach Marvin Lewis has kept the enthusiasm in check by limiting players' dealings with the media and insisting that they keep the playoffs out of mind.

"We don't have to worry about the postseason," Lewis said. "I don't talk about the postseason. That's no concern of mine right now."

There are a few concerns, most of them dealing with the Bengals' inconsistency. Despite their five interceptions on Sunday, they couldn't put away the Packers, who were driving for a potential tying touchdown behind Brett Favre when the game ended.

The Bengals failed to score after the first four interceptions, a bad sign for an offense that's either in high gear or going nowhere.

"We think of ourselves too (highly) when we have yet to produce on a consistent basis," right tackle Willie Anderson said. "We all have to learn that at crucial moments, we all have to be big."

Their most excruciating mistakes came on the final drive of the first half, after linebacker Odell Thurman got an interception at midfield. The Bengals lined up incorrectly and had to use a timeout, then were penalized for having 12 players on the field.

Cincinnati had one timeout left when it snapped the ball from the Green Bay 29 with 9 seconds left. T.J. Houshmandzadeh caught a short pass by the sideline, but turned upfield instead of stepping out of bounds to stop the clock. He was tackled at the 9 with no time left.

"It was dumb," Houshmandzadeh said. "I'm glad we won that game because that would have hurt us."

Lewis also is looking for more consistency out of a defense that gives up too many yards on the ground - 4.7 per carry - and special teams that haven't made many game-turning plays. The schedule has masked their shortcomings: The six teams they beat are a combined 12-31.

"Our guys have played well enough to win six football games," Lewis said. "They need to be congratulated for that. But we're neither satisfied nor done."