Bengals Fall Back to Earth

Chad Johnson had nothing to celebrate. The Bengals missed out on that long-awaited winning record. The playoffs vanished too.

One last time, can you say Bungles?

Rookie Lee Suggs ran for 186 yards and two touchdowns Sunday, leading the Cleveland Browns to a 22-14 victory that eliminated Cincinnati from playoff contention.

Instead, the Baltimore Ravens clinched the AFC North title several hours before playing Pittsburgh in the final regular-season game.

A renaissance season ended in a gut-wrenching disappointment for the Bengals (8-8), who reverted to form in their biggest game in 13 years.

“That’s the hardest part,” Pro Bowl offensive tackle Willie Anderson said. “Knowing what’s on the line, we’ve got to find a way to win these games and not come out and play scared and timid. We did it all year.”

With a chance to stay in contention for at least a few more hours and clinch their first winning record since 1990, the Bengals felt the significance of the moment and froze up.

The crowd of 65,362 -- the largest ever for a Bengal game in Cincinnati -- filed out silently after Jon Kitna’s final pass was intercepted by Robert Griffith with 41 seconds left.

The Bengals were in control of the division at 8-6 with two games left, but lost them both.

“We pressed,” Coach Marvin Lewis said. “That’s a growth that we have to go through. Don’t get frustrated about this and that, just keep playing.

“This was a good year. It wasn’t a great year. We’ve got more to do.”

Instead of taking advantage of the down-and-out Browns (5-11), the Bengals were uptight and out of sync. A rookie running back with a lot to prove became the undoing of a team with everything on the line.

Suggs, a fourth-round draft pick getting a chance during William Green’s suspension, had a 78-yard touchdown run in the first half and a 25-yard run that put the Browns ahead to stay with 7:54 left.

“Teams passed on me 114 times,” said Suggs, the 115th overall pick. “I’ve got to prove I’m better than a fourth-round pick, the 11th back taken. I’ll carry that with me the rest of my career. On draft day, I was the most disappointed player out there.”

Cleveland’s makeshift offensive line punched big holes in the Bengals’ defense. The Browns, who lost to Baltimore, 35-0, last week, rushed for a season-high 178 yards in the first half alone.

“We talked about these situations all year long, about guys being ready to play in this type of game,” Bengals linebacker Kevin Hardy said. “Everybody knew the magnitude of today.”

The Bengals’ Rudi Johnson scored two touchdowns on runs of five yards and two yards.