DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — Wind seemed to whip through this city — and its pro football stadium — with unchecked ill will.

Before the Cincinnati Bengals game with the Tennessee Titans was over Sunday, Sept. 14, more than a half million people in the Cincinnati area were without power. One of the concourses at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport was shut down because of wind damage, the historic Findlay Market was on fire and part of Interstate 75 was closed because trees lay on the highway.

Inside Paul Brown Stadium — where gusts hit 57 mph and beer cups swirling through the air like missiles — Kerry Collins, the Titans' 15-year-veteran quarterback, summed it up:

"I've never had to play in anything like this. It just wreaked havoc on anything we had to do in... It was borderline impossible to throw the ball."

A Bengals field goal blew sideways instead of through the goal posts, passes looked like duck-hooked tee shots. A wind gust turned a fumbled football into a skittering greased pig.

Yet for all that, Sunday's wind wasn't nearly strong enough for one thing. It could not blow the oh-so stinko off another crappy Cincinnati performance.

The Bengals were blown out by the Titans, 24-7, and fell to 0-2.

Already Cincinnati has been beaten by a pair of backup quarterbacks. The Baltimores' rookie Joe Flacco riddled them in the opener and Sunday it was the 35-year-old Collins, who has started just five games in three years, but against the Bengals completed 14 of 21 passes for a touchdown and no interceptions.

Just 90 seconds into the game, Bengals fans were booing. That — like the Cincinnati miscues — never stopped, except near game's end when there was silence. By then most of the crowd had left.

"I don't like it, but I understand it. If I was a fan would I boo? Probably," admitted Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. "I'd be upset. They come here to see us win."

So what's happening here?

This team has regressed and I think many fans are more upset than they were in the winless '90s because they see this bunch as talent squandered and personalities pampered.

With Mike Brown bringing back Chris Henry against Marvin Lewis' wishes, the owner has undermined the coach in front of his players and likely eroded some of his influence.

And with veteran Willie Anderson jettisoned in what's already proving to be a bad move and Carson Palmer struggling to regain his connection with Houshmandzadeh and Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson — who between them caught seven passes for 63 yards and no scores ... again — there's no real leader in this dressing room.

Injuries to both Pro Bowl wideouts kept them from working with Palmer in training camp and it shows. And yet Sunday's performance should come with a caveat, the quarterback said:

"I don't think we're that out of sync, I think it's a different game today if the winds were not gusting. So many times the ball started in front of them, then darted hard left and hit them in the pads."

All that may be true, but it was Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones whose summed it up best:

"The wind came into play for us. And it came into play for them. It was a matter of who dealt with it better and obviously, they did."