Bengals Remain Winless : AFC: Cincinnati leads late into the third quarter, but Houston scores three times for a 28-12 victory.

After a week of controversy and national attention, the Houston Oilers should have been relieved to get back to football.

Instead, they seemed tight and had to overcome their ineptness and the boos of their fans for a 28-12 victory over the winless Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

All week, the Oilers took heat for their treatment of proud father David Williams, who skipped last Sunday’s game to be with his wife and first-born child. The Oilers docked Williams’ weekly pay check for missing a 28-14 victory over New England, but the offensive tackle returned to the starting lineup against the Bengals.

“I’m just glad I got this game behind me,” Williams said. “It’s just incredible how things have gone. It amazed me last week how they snowballed. Hopefully that’s all behind us now.”

The Oilers (3-4) struggled through most of the game and trailed, 12-7, until 1:11 remained in the third quarter, when Lorenzo White scored on a four-yard run for a 14-12 lead.

Moon completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Haywood Jeffires with 6:14 left. Gary Brown scored the final touchdown on a 25-yard run with 1:54 remaining.

Moon, benched last week for ineffectiveness, also had a first-half touchdown pass to Gary Wellman.

Cincinnati (0-7), winless in the Astrodome since 1984, moved to Houston’s one-yard line on the drive after White’s go-ahead touchdown. But Jay Schroeder, subbing for injured David Klingler, was sacked on one play and Ray Childress recovered Schroeder’s fumble on the next.

Rookie Doug Pelfrey missed an extra point following Schroeder’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Query in the second quarter that kept Houston ahead, 7-6.

But Pelfrey made up for it with three seconds remaining in the half when he kicked a career-long 53 yard field goal, giving the Bengals a 9-7 halftime lead.

Derrick Fenner’s 26-yard run and Schroeder’s 11-yard pass to Query put the Bengals in position for Pelfrey’s go-ahead kick.