In hindsight, Marvin Lewis would change his original hindsight. In his news conference Sunday afternoon after his Bengals' 24-13 loss to the Steelers, Lewis said he should have gone for it on fourth-and-1 from the Pittsburgh 2-yard line late in the second quarter trailing by 11 points. Instead, the Bengals kicked a field goal, only to have the Steelers drive 70 yards for a touchdown just before halftime, putting Cincinnati in a giant hole it couldn't escape. Lewis was asked about the decision again yesterday, and he backtracked, saying he would kick the field goal again if he had it to do over.

 "It's easy to look back on it now, particularly after they scored a touchdown, and think that makes a difference," the coach said. "But at that point, getting the points was important. "Obviously, the players always want to go. The fans always want to go, because the next day they really don't care (if they're wrong). If we don't make it, if we run it, (they say) we should have thrown it. If we throw it, we should have run it." He said his strategy was based on the hope his defense could force Pittsburgh into a three-and-out, which would give the Bengals a chance to score again before halftime, after which Cincinnati was to receive the ball.

"I can't look at it as though we're not going to cover the kick (following the field goal) or allow them to drive 70 yards for a touchdown," Lewis said. "I have to look at it as though we're going to kick off, tackle them at the 20 and force a three-and-out, if not a turnover." The Bengals forced only one three-and-out Sunday, on Pittsburgh's first possession. Lewis said he has mulled the decision almost from the moment he made it. "I wrestled with it when they went down and scored a touchdown," he said. "I wrestled with it from that point on.

That's part of this (job)." Lewis said a contributing factor in his decision was the distance the Bengals had to gain. He said he believed tight end Reggie Kelly was given an unfavorable spot on a 5-yard completion on third-and-6. Though many of the Bengals players said they wanted to go for it, they were publicly supportive of Lewis. "Y'all are making a big deal out of the call," receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said yesterday, "but even if we get the first down and we score, do we win? We don't know that. You can't point to that one thing and say, 'Oh, that's the reason we lost.'

" Playoffs not hopeless At 2-5, the Bengals' playoffs hopes are dim, but Lewis is still holding out hope for a run. "The playoffs are possible," he said. "The playoffs are there. The playoffs are not out of reach. But we can't worry about the playoffs. We need to worry about win No. 3 in Buffalo this week." Injury report Lewis said right tackle Willie Anderson will likely miss Sunday's game against Buffalo. Lewis also said defensive tackle John Thornton (stinger) was feeling better, and running back Kenny Watson had a concussion but should be fine.

Columbus Dispatch

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