Bratkowski: No excuse for converting one third down on 18 tries.

If the Bengals defense doesn't pare down that 31 points per game against average, it may not matter what the offense does.  But NFL games are won and lost on third down. Right now, Cincinnati is losing that battle.  In the past two games, the Bengals are 1-of-18 on third down. Cincinnati is 20-of-60 (33.3 percent) overall. Its foes are 28-of-66 (42.4 percent).  "We've got things to do (better) in every area, whether it be what we're doing, how we're doing it, when we're doing it, how we're protecting it and so forth," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.

The Bengals average 25.2 points, 367 yards and 284.8 passing yards — all among the league's best — but just 82.2 rushing yards and a 3.7 per carry average.  "That's one reason why we're 1-4," Lewis said. "If you run the football effectively, you have a better opportunity to win. You throw it 40 times a game, you're not going to win most of your games — even with a great quarterback."

Receiver Tab Perry and safety Ethan Kilmer are out for the Cincinnati Bengals, while cornerback Johnathan Joseph and receiver Courtney Roby are in.  Perry and Kilmer both were placed on the reserve/injured list and will miss the remainder of the 2007 season. Perry is out because of a hip injury suffered in Week 2 against Cleveland, and Kilmer is done with a knee injury that has not enabled him to play this season.

Joseph returns to the roster after missing last week's game against Kansas City because of a one-week NFL suspension related to his arrest last January on possession of marijuana.  Roby, a 6-foot, 189-pound third-year player from Indiana University, was a Titans' third-round pick in 2005. He played in 25 games with Tennessee over two seasons before being waived Sept. 1.

Marvin Lewis' contract as Bengals head coach runs through the 2010 season, so he has plenty of job security. Nevertheless, he feels the heat of a 1-4 start.  "It's only the heat I generate on myself, fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to put it," Lewis said Monday. "So I guess I'll disappoint the fans who think there is heat, OK?  "My only heat is internal, and that's what drives me. That's the good thing, I guess, about this position. I'm not going to get concerned and they don't need to be concerned one way or another. Just go back to being loud and cheering."

Been there, done that:  Lewis has been here before. He was 1-4 his first two seasons (2003 and 2004), rebounding to finish 8-8 both times. The Bengals reached the playoffs in 2005, starting 5-1 and finishing 11-5. They swaggered to a 3-0 start in '06, but staggered to an 0-3 finish and ended up 8-8 for the third time in four years.

Cincinnati Bengals fans know all to well about moral victories when it comes to the Bengals.  Cincinnati fans have a long list of former Bengals Coaches and players who were all about moral victories.  We even have a team Owner who was happy with moral victories for almost fifteen years. 

Well now we can add Marvin Lewis to the list.  The one Bengals coach in the last 15 years that has always stood up against the moral victory cry laid right down in the comfort of a moral victory after the game on Sunday and made him self and his team feel comfortable and right at home.

After seeing the game on Sunday the fact Marin Lewis is talking moral victories may be the one thing that leads me to believe the season may truly be over for the 2007 Bengals.  This is not the Marvin Lewis we hired.  The Marvin Lewis who started with the Bengals appears to be long gone.  The guy who spoke of winning at all cost, do your job, play as a team, and no one is above the team is gone.  The guy who preached winning is all that matters in the NFL, and that the Bengals would be winners is gone.  He is gone and unfortunately now is when we need him the most.

Bengals wideout not happy with offense's inconsistency, especially on third down.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh is getting sick of looking at the game summaries and seeing one ugly stat.  The Bengals' wide receiver had an outstanding game — 8 catches for 145 yards and two TDs — but other numbers leap off the page: Cincinnati was 1-of-11 (9 percent) in third-down efficiency. That contributed heavily to its 27-20 loss to Kansas City, which converted 7-of-16 (44 percent) of its third-down opportunities.

Add in the Bengals' 0-for-7 on third down against New England, and Cincinnati has moved the chains once in its last 18 chances on third down.  "We're just not consistent," Houshmandzadeh said. "Why? I don't know. We're not giving ourselves the opportunity to string together several plays that keeps our offense on the field and our defense off the field. Confidence is a big thing. We've got to suck it up, man up and play (better)."