Bengals home free only if Ochocinco keeps it buttoned up

PITTSBURGH -- Only Chad Ochocinco can screw this up for Cincinnati.

And you know what I'm talking about.

The Bengals finished off a season sweep of Pittsburgh on Sunday, beating the Steelers 18-12 to move into sole possession of first place in the AFC North. With pending home games against the dregs of the NFL -- Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City -- Ochocinco looks to be the last remaining danger on the Cincinnati schedule.

If the Bengals win those three gimmes, and then win just one of their remaining four road games -- I'm thinking the trip next week to Oakland -- they would finish 11-5 with a perfect record in the division. Those are the credentials of a playoff lock.

But the Bengals can't be called a playoff lock yet, because they still have to traverse the mental minefield that is Chad Ochocinco.

I tried to traverse it after the game Sunday, and it didn't go so well.

First, the background. And not the deep background, like his trade demands of 2007. Or the punch Ochocinco threw at a member of the coaching staff at halftime of the Bengals' only playoff game in the past 19 years, a January 2006 loss to Pittsburgh. At halftime the Bengals were winning 17-14, but that wasn't good enough for Ochocinco, then known more humbly as "Chad Johnson." He was having a quiet day (he finished with four catches for 59 yards and no scores) and at halftime he went after a coach in the locker room, a much-rumored confrontation that was confirmed years later by then-teammate Shaun Smith. After that loss, the once-rising Bengals dropped to 19-28-1 from 2006-08, disappointing seasons marked by the increasing distraction of the receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson.

But that's not the background I'm talking about. That's old history. I'm talking about Sunday's game, which Ochocinco spent catching just two passes for just 29 yards, but with a team-high amount of screaming at his quarterback and pouting on the sidelines. I saw it. Saw it all. Carson Palmer made Laveranues Coles his favorite target Sunday, and No. 3 receiver Andre Caldwell caught twice as many passes as Ochocinco, and Ochocinco's body language got uglier and uglier as the game wore on.

Twice, after third-down passes intended for other receivers fell incomplete, Ochocinco walked off the field and never looked back, even as kicker Shayne Graham was trying -- successfully -- to kick field goals for the tie or the lead. Field goals might be good for the team, but what's in it for Ochocinco? He wasn't about to watch that crap.

That's the stuff I wanted to talk to Ochocinco about -- his state of mind. His history of being moody, of being a distraction, of being selfish. Was this the wrong time to bring it up? I don't think so. Ochocinco disagreed.

It started fine, with Ochocinco clearly not in a talkative mood but still answering my question about Bernard Scott's 96-yard kickoff return for the game's only touchdown. Ochocinco even answered my next question about his own impact, or lack thereof, on the game.

"I never have a big impact in games when we're up against these guys," he said. "They throw the whole house on me. But it's not always going to be about me. It was a team win today."

He went on, and was complimentary about the Pittsburgh defense, but I asked one more question, and that's where it went south. And don't look at me like that. I knew what I was going to write after this game -- read my first sentence again; I wrote it right after the game ended, before I went to the locker room for interviews -- and I wanted Ochocinco's thoughts on the topic.

Me: "As the season goes along -- you guys are 7-2, first place in the division -- are you going to be OK if it stays 'not about you'?"

Him: "Sure I am -- wait. What? Why are you so interested in talking about me?"

Me: "Because you're so interested in talking about you. And that interests me."

There's no telling how long Chad Ochocinco will accept being in the background while other Bengals are more involved. (Getty Images)

Him: "You need to get out of here."

Those are the highlights. Or lowlights. And for the record, my next stop was the Pittsburgh locker room, where I asked safety Ryan Clark what the Steelers had done to bottle up Ochocinco.

"We didn't do anything special for him," Clark said. "We didn't roll much coverage to him or anything."

Interesting. But what's really fascinating is that the Bengals could beat Pittsburgh without much production from Ochocinco, and the way they went about it. Cincinnati out-Steelered the Steelers, controlling the line of scrimmage with its defensive front to eliminate the Pittsburgh running game and sack Ben Roethlisberger four times. The Bengals also intercepted him once and knocked down several passes at the line and knocked down Roethlisberger himself on others. He came into the game tied for first in the NFL with a completion rate of 70.6 percent, but he was 20 for 40 on Sunday.

This wasn't one or two plays going Cincinnati's way. This was domination, and the score would have more accurately reflected that -- say, 22-12 -- had the Bengals not blown an extra point try and seen a field goal hit the upright. For the Bengals to dominate one of the best teams in the NFL on the road, and to do it without getting much of a contribution from their most explosive receiver? That's making a statement.

"This was a statement game," Cincinnati safety Chris Crocker said. "Beat Pittsburgh two times. Beat Baltimore two times. Now everyone [in the AFC North] is looking at us from behind."

And everyone in the AFC North should stay behind them. The Bengals' health has been cooperating. Their depth has been cooperating. Their schedule definitely will cooperate. Near as I can tell, only one question remains:

Will Chad Ochocinco continue to cooperate?