RAM NOTEBOOK / MIKE REILLEY : Price Returns to Cincinnati Hoping to Show Up Old Team

Ram cornerback Mitchell Price returns to Cincinnati on Sunday intent on showing the Bengals they bungled by releasing him twice over the last two seasons.

Price played for the Bengals in 1990 and 1991 before being waived in 1992 and picked up by Phoenix. The Cardinals later waived him and Cincinnati re-signed him last December.

He played two games with the Bengals this season before he was released Sept. 23. The Rams signed him Nov. 30 as a backup for their injury-riddled secondary.

When Price looked at the remaining games on the Rams’ schedule, guess which one stood out?

“This is what I’ve been waiting on,” Price said. “This is my opportunity to go out there and show them the Bengals made a mistake.”

Is he still bitter about the Bengals releasing him?

“Anytime you’ve done a lot for an organization, you wonder why things happen,” he said. “But like anything else, times change and people change. Maybe they felt the team had been struggling the last couple years, and they wanted to make a change.

“It’s a business and you can’t concern yourself with how and why things happen. You have to take it in stride and go with what you know. I’m just glad to have the opportunity to play again, and even more so against them.”

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Father knows better: Bengal Coach Dave Shula’s dad, Don, became NFL’s all-time winningest coach this season with Miami. Meanwhile, the younger Shula has struggled to a 1-12 record this season and is 6-23 in two seasons with the Bengals.

At this victory pace, Dave Shula would have to coach 109 years to catch his father (327 victories).

“I wouldn’t wish this (season) upon anybody,” Dave Shula said. “It’s been very trying at times. But our guys have practiced well and played hard in games. In many cases, if we make a few more plays go our way, we would have a much better record.”

A few plays? The statistics tell another story.

The Bengals rank last in total offense and scoring. Last in yards gained per play, 26th in rushing, 27th in passing and 24th in third-down efficiency.

They’re averaging only 10.6 points a game and haven’t scored more than two touchdowns in a game all season. They would have to average 25 points in their final three games to avoid setting a club record for fewest points in a season (244) set by the 1980 team.

“Coming into this season I knew we would have a hard time winning as many games as we did last year because of the turnover in personnel and the youth on the team. I honestly believe that we would come close to that, and I’ve been disappointed that we haven’t been able to do that. There have been several games where we had an opportunity to win.”

The Bengals have played three playoff contenders tough, losing to Kansas City, 17-15, and San Francisco, 21-8, while beating the Raiders, 16-10, three weeks ago. But they also have lost to Indianapolis, 9-6, and last week to New England, 7-2, in a battle between the teams with the league’s worst records. How do they expect to recover this week for the Rams?

“There’s lot of re-evaluation going on,” said Bengal quarterback David Klingler, who completed nine of 25 passes for 89 yards against the Patriots. “We basically stunk. From top to bottom, we didn’t play well, myself included.

“We played as well or better against the 49ers and Kansas City, good teams, but the week that we need to continue that, we fell off and let it get away from us. New England played well, but we didn’t show up to play.”

Klingler is ranked 26th among the league’s quarterbacks, completing 145 of 260 passes (55.8%) for 1,421 yards with three touchdowns and nine interceptions. The Bengals rank in the top five in the league in only one offensive category--gross punt average.

“We’ve messed up the little things this season,” Klingler said. “We go on the wrong snap count, illegal procedure. We have to be one of the most penalized offenses in the league.

“We’re killing so many drives with an offsides or a holding call or an illegal shift. It’s always something that sets us back and we’re not able to overcome it.”

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Tiger’s tale: Ram tailback Jerome Bettis, second in the NFL in rushing with 1,103 yards, could have been a Bengal. Shula said they took a close look at Bettis entering the draft.

“We had high regard for Jerome,” Shula said. “I went up there with my assistants and watched him work out and spent some time with him. We came away very impressed with him, not only on film and the workout but as a person.”

But the Bengals passed. Their needs were on defense, and they used five of their first six picks to take defensive players, including defensive end John Copeland from Alabama.

It didn’t take Shula long to see that they could have made a fine selection by taking Bettis with the fifth pick in the draft.

“We had some earlier film of him this season, from when we were preparing for other teams, and you could see the difference in him as the season went on,” Shula said. “You have to give credit to their offensive line, the tight ends and (fullback) Tim Lester is up there blocking for him. Those guys are doing a hell of a job.”

Notes

Cincinnati fullback Derrick Fenner was a 10th-round draft pick by Seattle in 1989. Seattle’s coach that year? Chuck Knox. Fenner led the Seahawks in rushing in 1990 with 859 yards and 14 touchdowns. . . The Bengals hold a 4-2 series lead over the Rams. The Bengals won the last matchup, 34-31, in overtime, at Anaheim Stadium in 1990. It was a typically close game in the series--the Bengals have outscored the Rams, 124-111.