Were those imposters wearing those Bengals uniforms yesterdy, or was the real mirage last week?

That's the question Cincinnati must answer after a stunning 51-45 loss yesterday to the Browns. The supposedly new-and-improved Bengals defense that forced six turnovers and stifled the Baltimore Ravens last Monday must have gotten lost somewhere on I-71.  The defense that showed up -- or didn't show up -- was the unit that had naysayers questioning whether the Bengals had what it took to be a playoff team.

To give up 51 points and 554 yards to a Browns offense that couldn't tie its shoes without tripping a week ago against Pittsburgh was astounding.  A defense that constantly harassed Ravens quarterback Steve McNair barely touched Derek Anderson. The quarterback got hit on one early play after picking up his own fumble, but that might have been the only time. Given plenty of time to throw, Anderson picked apart the Bengals secondary.

Rookie cornerback Leon Hall was burned three times for touchdowns. The third score came when he and whichever safety was supposed to be in the vicinity had a miscommunication, which left Braylon Edwards wide open.  Miscommunications and misalignments were the order of the day. On Jamal Lewis' 66-yard touchdown run, linebacker Lemar Marshall went outside and defensive end Justin Smith went inside, allowing Lewis to go off left tackle untouched all the way for a big chunk of his 216 rushing yards.  "I'm very disappointed with how we played on defense," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "Assignment-wise, we weren't very sharp at all. As the game went on, we seemed to invent some things and got out of sync and tried to do too much individually."

It didn't help that middle linebacker Ahmad Brooks left the game early because of a pulled groin. Replacement Caleb Miller had a dismal game. He dropped a would-be interception and failed to break up a third-down pass to Kellen Winslow Jr., despite being in position to do so, that set up a touchdown. Later, he appeared to be the culprit on a touchdown lob to Joe Jurevicius by not dropping deep enough in the end zone.

But one player can't be held responsible for what happened yesterday. This was a team (non-)effort.  "It's ridiculous," Smith said. "At this level of football, you can't have mental errors. We went to a base defense and we were still not stacked right, not lining up right. That's just fundamental football, basic football.  "The week before, we had it straightened out. And you saw what happened. This week, we didn't have it straightened out and you saw what happened. That's how easy this game is at this level. You're either in your right gap or you're not. And when you're not, you get abused."

The Bengals said they were aware of the problems during the game. So why didn't they get them corrected?  "We just didn't," defensive tackle John Thornton said. "Every individual player has to answer that. They got on a roll and we just didn't stop them when it counted. It happens. You let a team get momentum, and I don't care who they are. They can go up and down the field like that."

Columbus Dispatch

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