Take off the blinders -- time to believe in Bengals

CINCINNATI -- If this were anyone but the Cincinnati Bengals, you would believe in them by now. OK, maybe you wouldn't believe in the Lions or Browns yet, either. Or the Rams. But anyone else ... and you would believe.

The Bengals have a former Pro Bowl quarterback in his prime, a budding 1,500-yard rusher at running back and one of the most explosive receivers in the game. They have two sensational defensive tackles, two terrific young cornerbacks and a decent corps of linebackers. They have a rookie punter who will make the Pro Bowl sooner than later, and they have the fourth-most accurate kicker in NFL history.

But they're the Bengals. So you don't believe. Not you nationally, and not you locally. Nationally, the odds makers in Vegas stuck their finger into the air and gauged the pessimistic public opinion of this team, which is why they installed the Bengals -- despite playing at home against a team they had beaten earlier this season on the road -- as underdogs Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Locally, the team required yet another extension from the NFL to sell out its smallish stadium and avoid the local television blackout. The blackout was somehow avoided, but there were several thousand empty seats.

They're the Bengals. It's not easy to believe. I get it.

But it's time. The Bengals didn't just defeat Baltimore 17-7 on Sunday. They mugged Baltimore, jumping to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter. They took away the Ravens' running game and their passing game. They ran for almost 150 yards and passed for almost 225 more. The Bengals are 6-2 and leading the AFC North because they out-hit, out-thought and out-hustled what had been -- what still is -- one of the better teams in the NFL.

Don't give me the Ravens' 4-4 record. That's a number, and it's an important number, but it's only a number. Here are some more: Before Sunday, Baltimore's three losses had come by a combined 11 points to teams that were 12 games above .500 this season. If there's such a thing as The Best 4-3 Team in the NFL, well, Baltimore was it.

And now the Ravens are probably the best 4-4 team in football, which won't do them much good seeing how they're not going to the playoffs. They're two full games behind the Bengals and 1½ behind the Steelers in the AFC North, and their 0-2 record against the Bengals had Cincinnati defensive tackle Tank Johnson skipping like a schoolboy and cursing like a sailor as he rumbled into the locker room after the game.

"Get ya brooms out!" Johnson screamed. "Get ya brooms out -- sweep them mother [expletives] out the door!"

Teammates were laughing. A few minutes later, a thunderous chant of Who Dey -- "Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals? Who dey! Who dey!" -- could be heard coming out of the locker room. Most NFL locker rooms I've been in, even happy winning locker rooms, have a corporate feel to them, but the Bengals have a collegiate air about them. Maybe this is why: They entered the season as the most inexperienced team in the league, averaging 3.77 years of NFL experience per player (Green Bay was second at 3.81). Whatever it is, they're showing youthful exuberance rarely seen around here.

"We're still learning and growing," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "It's onward and upward. ... Our guys are a football team, and that's the key. That's who we are."

The caustic chemistry of the past is gone. Part of that is the departure of receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who chafed at his role as the understudy to Chad Ochocinco's starring role. Ochocinco chafed right back. They didn't snipe at each other, but they sniped at quarterback Carson Palmer and at the coaches and at the media. Ochocinco's game suffered, and so did the Bengals. But with Houshmandzadeh gone, Ochocinco again is the clear star. Love him or hate him -- and I'm probably leaning toward the latter, if you want the truth -- Ochocinco is the thermometer of his locker room. If he's cool, everyone's cool.

Bengals corner Jonathan Joseph says, 'when we come to work, we're all on the same page.' (AP)

Ochocinco is so cool that Lewis feels safe to stick him with a needle on occasion. One such occasion was Sunday's postgame press conference, when the coach was asked about Ochocinco's two fumbles against the Ravens -- one was nullified by a Baltimore penalty -- and the reporter mentioned the difficulty in re-teaching a "veteran" such a basic concept as holding onto the football.

"You throw that term around loosely," Lewis said. "I wouldn't say 'veteran.' I think you can start over [as a rookie] every day with him."

Lewis was laughing, and in the locker room, Ochocinco was laughing too. He was wearing ridiculous-looking Louis Vuitton glasses, a gold-plated pair that retails for $900 and smothered his face, and he was saying something that might have sounded even more ridiculous.

"I wanted this to be a statement game," Ochocinco said. "Not just a victory -- but a statement game. A lot of people, media, they're making us underdogs. They're basing it on last year."

But he's right. Last year is gone. The Bengals restructured their offensive line, turning a team weakness into a strength, and the result is that former Bears castoff Cedric Benson is averaging 105 rushing yards per game, including another 117 on Sunday against a Ravens defense missing inactive tackle Haloti Ngata. Thanks to Benson's work inside, Palmer has been freed up to compile a passer rating of 89.5, which he has topped just twice in his seven years in the NFL -- when he made the Pro Bowl in 2004 and '05. His rating was 91.0 on Sunday.

On defense, the Bengals have gone from one of the league's worst teams against the run to one of the best after the addition of Johnson and the emergence of Domata Peko at defensive tackle. When teams pass on the Bengals, they are throwing on former first-round picks Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph, each of whom recorded his fourth interception of the season Sunday against Joe Flacco.

"Nobody cares who gets the credit for doing the job, as long as the job gets done," Joseph said. "It doesn't mean we have to hang out off the field every second of the day, but when we come to work, we're all on the same page.