PITTSBURGH - The Bengals aren't supposed to win like this. Not against this team or against these odds. Not at this time of the season or in so big a game.
Somehow they did, and a franchise that could barely win at all for 12 seasons has a season-defining victory.
Jon Kitna's third touchdown pass, an 18-yarder to Matt Schobel with 13 seconds left, finished a drive that carried Cincinnati past its division rival.
The Bengals won their fourth in a row to set up a first-place showdown Sunday in Baltimore and all but eliminated Pittsburgh, which won six of the past nine titles in the AFC North or Central.
"In years past, we didn't win the tough games," Bengals running back Corey Dillon said. "Now we're winning them. As long as I've been here, December was just December, it doesn't mean too much. This is different."
Tommy Maddox, 28-of-42 for 313 yards, gave Pittsburgh its first lead at 20-17 with a 16-yard touchdown to Hines Ward with 1:05 left. The Steelers rallied from a 14-3 deficit behind Jerome Bettis' 1-yard touchdown run on a 75-play drive and Jeff Reed's 39-yard field goal.
But Reed's short kickoff into a strong wind and Brandon Bennett's 27-yard return gave Cincinnati the ball at its 48. Kitna, who has 18 touchdown passes and one interception in his team's seven wins, got the Bengals in the end zone in four plays.
Ravens 44, 49ers 6
BALTIMORE - The defense returned to form, the offense matched the standard it set last week and the special teams were spectacular.
All facets contributed to the most lopsided victory in Baltimore's history, a win that served as a perfect tuneup for next week's game for first place in the AFC North.
Ray Lewis returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown to cap a 17-point flurry in the second quarter, and the rejuvenated Ravens cruised.
"This is a complete game for us, the kind of game we're capable of having," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "It's what we're going to need the rest of the way to get done what we want to get done."
That would be a return to the playoffs after a one-year absence. Baltimore can take a huge step in that direction Sunday against Cincinnati, which is tied with the Ravens atop the division. The Bengals beat Baltimore in Cincinnati this season.
On Nov.23 the Ravens trailed Seattle by 14 at halftime and 17 in the fourth quarter before winning 44-41 in overtime. Against the 49ers they led 24-6 at halftime on their way to scoring 40 in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history.
Baltimore gained 208 yards on returns and intercepted Jeff Garcia four times. Garcia had missed three games with a sprained ankle.
"It's like a bad nightmare," Garcia said. "When it started to go downhill, it went downhill fast."Bears 28, Cardinals 3
CHICAGO - Kordell Stewart returned to the starter's role he thought would be his when he joined the Bears. And, for one game at least, he made the most of his opportunity.
Getting his first start in seven weeks as a replacement for the injured Chris Chandler, Stewart sparked Chicago to its biggest offensive day of the season.
"Chris is the starter. He hurt his shoulder," said Stewart, who was 22-of-37 for 284 yards. "They gave him the job. It's my responsibility as a backup to come in and just do what I was supposed to do."
Stewart threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third and rookie Brock Forsey, a fill-in for Anthony Thomas, gained 134 yards with a TD.
Forsey, a rookie who was a walk-on at Boise State, got his second start because Thomas was inactive with viral pneumonia.
Forsey carried 27 times and scored on a 9-yard run with 3:33 left to cap a 21-point fourth quarter.
"I've got confidence in myself," Forsey said. "I'm trying to make a statement."
Ranked last in the league in offense coming in, Chicago gained a season-high 422 yards, set a season high for points and drove 96 yards in six plays on its initial possession for its first first-quarter TD this season.
The Cardinals gained 197 yards, fell to 0-6 on the road and have been outscored 203-68 in those games.
"We had trouble doing everything offensively," Arizona coach Dave McGinnis said.
Bills 24, Giants 7
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - For one of the few times this season, Drew Bledsoe and the Bills lived up to the preseason hype. The Giants' failure to do even that has put Jim Fassel's job in serious peril.
Shaking off the effects of a concussion, Bledsoe threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns in a game that ended with 78,000-seat Giants Stadium three-quarters empty.
Bledsoe hit 19-of-29 before another blow to the head forced him to the bench in the third quarter.
"There is an overall sense of frustration because we feel like we've underachieved this season," Bledsoe said after Buffalo snapped a four-game losing streak. "We've played three good games over the course of the season, today being one of them."
New York's situation is worse.
Turnovers, injuries, dumb plays, penalties and bad tackling hurt the Giants all season and they all were evident again in a game that all but ended their playoff hopes and Fassel's tenure as coach.
"It's hard to describe my feelings right now," a subdued Fassel said after enduring the first four-game losing streak of his six-plus seasons as coach. "It's hard. It's just hard to watch them play that way."
Co-owner Wellington Mara refused to discuss Fassel's future.
Buffalo took control with a 17-point second quarter. Bledsoe threw a 24-yard touchdown to tight end Dave Moore, a 22-yarder to Bobby Shaw and set up a short field goal by Rian Lindell with a 31-yard pass.
Seahawks 34, Browns 7
SEATTLE - Matt Hasselbeck has the Seattle offense on a roll. And the Seahawks turned in a great defensive performance, too.
"We're rolling, and we're not done yet," running back Shawn Alexander said. "This is getting exciting for us."
Hasselbeck threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns and Alexander rushed for 127 yards and another TD .
"We feel like we can do a lot better, and this is not our final goal," Hasselbeck said. "We have a final goal - and we don't talk about it a lot - but we want to be playing at the end of the year."
The Seahawks had 463 yards one week after 426 in an overtime loss at Baltimore. Hasselbeck completed 26 of 35 passes with one interception, and Seattle was a remarkable 11-for-15 on third-down conversions when he was in.
"That is a very key statistic in any game, next to turnovers," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said.
Darrell Jackson had eight receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns, and Koren Robinson caught six passes for 122 yards.
It was the first game in franchise history in which the Seahawks had a 300-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher and two 100-yard receivers.
Seattle remained one game behind St. Louis in the NFC West. It was Cleveland's most lopsided loss in three seasons under coach Butch Davis, eclipsing a 23-point loss at Green Bay on Dec. 23, 2001.
Broncos 22, Raiders 8
OAKLAND, Calif. - A season's worth of frustration came barreling out of Bill Callahan's mouth after Oakland's latest mistake-filled defeat when he called the Raiders "the dumbest team in America."
"If we don't learn how not to beat ourselves, we won't win again, and we won't win for a long time," Callahan shouted to reporters after his team's loss.
"We've got to be the dumbest team in America in terms of playing the game. It's embarrassing, and I represent that. And I apologize for that. If that's the best we can do, it's a sad product."
The Broncos kept their slim playoff hopes alive, and their bitter division rivals made it easy.
Clinton Portis carried 34 times for 170 yards and two scores for Denver, which is four games behind Kansas City in the West and trails four other teams in the playoff race.
What little success Oakland had moving the ball was offset by untimely penalties and other mistakes.
The Raiders weren't thrilled to learn of Callahan's comments.
"I'm not ever going to call my teammates dumb," injured offensive lineman Frank Middleton said. "Since you were a kid, your mama taught you not to call anyone dumb or stupid."
Said Charles Woodson, one of Callahan's most vocal critics: "I can't believe another grown man would call another man dumb."
Woodson had back-to-back long penalties in the fourth quarter.
