CINCINNATI -- For the past decade, it hasn't been easy being a Cincinnati Bengal. The record for those 10, postseason-less years is a horrific 47-113, which works out to a winning percentage of 29.4.

	Takeo Spikes and the Bengals are smiling for a change in Cincinnati.

"I'm not saying anybody was ashamed to be a Bengal, but it gets to the point in past years where you lose so much, you just hate going out," linebacker Takeo Spikes said. "You hated even being around people where they even tried to start stuff with you. But now you go out, you're trying to find out what restaurant you want to get comp'ed at.

"That's how sweet it is."

Yes, free food, a phenomenon that has eluded the Bengals for years, is now plentiful in Cincinnati. Desserts at the local Chinese restaurant, Dom Pérignon at Willie's in nearby Covington.

It's all happening now that the Bengals are off to a 2-0 start. They stunned the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens 21-10 last week in Cincinnati, and now they face the equally surprising San Diego Chargers on Sunday. That one of those teams will stand 3-0 is almost unfathomable.

"I don't know if anybody thought we had a chance to win," running back Corey Dillon said of the Ravens game. "I don't think that was anybody's thought process. I think the only people that believed we could win was us. It's more of a mindset, and our mindset has changed from not being sure to being sure."

Said Spikes: "If you've been back here when I was here, not winning at all and now to this point, it's a great thing. It's great to be a Bengal."

No one hungers to win and be recognized for his (remarkable) individual accomplishments more than Spikes. He was the 13th player taken in the 1998 draft and has started all 50 games he has played for Cincinnati. Unlike some of the team's recent first-round draft choices -- David Klingler, Dan Wilkinson and Ki-Jana Carter went No. 6, No. 1 and No. 1, respectively -- Spikes is the real deal. His career-high 128 tackles a year ago were the third-highest total by a Bengal since 1976, when the statistic was first recorded.

Spikes stirred up his teammates before last weekend's game, reminding them that Baltimore quarterback Elvis Grbac turned down a lucrative offer to play for the Bengals in the offseason. It was Spikes who authored the play of the game when he tipped, caught and returned a Grbac pass 66 yards for a touchdown to lock down the win. This, after he had been flagged for two personal fouls and a holding penalty.

	“	If you've been back here when I was here, not winning at all and now to this point, it's a great thing. It's great to be a Bengal. ”
		— Linebacker Takeo Spikes

"I've seen Michael Jordan get in a zone," Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna said. "I've seen Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire when they get in a zone, but I've never seen a football player be in a zone like that. Takeo was unbelievable."

Cincinnati forced six Baltimore turnovers to avenge last year's 37-0 loss in Maryland.

The Bengals are 2-0 for the first time since 1995. They are aiming for their first 3-0 start since 1990, their last trip to the playoffs.

According to the players, the biggest difference is head coach Dick LeBeau. He is 6-6 in his last 12 games -- an amazing number for a Bengals coach. He is a respectable 6-9 since taking over for Bruce Coslet three games into the 2000 season.

"Coach LeBeau's first speech when he took over, it kind of went like, 'You're a starter, but nobody's penciled in. If you don't perform, then you are not going to be here,' " linebacker Steve Foley explained. "And that's what it boiled down to."

Said Spikes: "He just came in and said, 'The principles, the principles, the principles.' Even on days when you're sore and you think he might take us out of pads in training camp, no. Throughout the whole training camp, we went pads. His main job was making us keep in mind that, 'Guys, we have a lot to play for here. We haven't done anything where we've got to get out of pads.' "

Clearly, the mindset has taken hold. Strength coach Kim Wood reported to work at 8:30 on Monday morning to find that several Bengals players had arrived for their weightlifting routines just after dawn.

"The bumps and the bruises," Spikes said, "they don't hurt anymore. A lot of guys would usually come in and say, 'I don't know if I'll be able to go today.' And now, they're out there practicing."

Said Foley: "After you're so used to not getting your second win until Week 9 or 10 -- that's how it was my first couple of years here -- we're like 'OK, we're going to see how this thing plays out.' For us to come out and beat the Super Bowl champions, everybody's head is up right now."

	Corey Dillon thinks the Bengals can go 19-0. 'It's possible. Anything's possible,' he said.

And now, the Bengals are setting their sights on history.

All they have to do is win at San Diego and Pittsburgh, then take Cleveland and Chicago at home (they are 4-0 in their last four games at Paul Brown Stadium), then win at Detroit and Jacksonville, followed by victories over Tennessee, at Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, at the New York Jets and Baltimore and finish up with Pittsburgh at home. That would be a 16-0 mark. Three playoff wins would add up to a 19-0 record, two better than the standard achieved by the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

"That was a great team," Foley said. "If we can go through the season without losing a game, then we would have to go down in the record books."

19-0?

Dillon, who has 19 100-yard games in just more than four seasons and has carried this team through the wilderness, is starting to believe.

"Why not?" he asked. "It's possible. Anything's possible. Whether we reach it, that's on us."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for EPSN.com.