Score one for brute force over Cincinnati finesse. The Bengals do not have the defensive spine to stop Bettis, and so they can't beat the Steelers right now. Steelers 27, Bengals 13. And it wasn't that close. A week after Bill Cowher forgot to call Bettis' number (four carries, four yards in the loss to Jacksonville) down the stretch, the Steelers coach again made an old warhorse the key to his Woody Hayes-type offense. Smart move.

"If we wanted to control this division again,'' Bettis said later, "this was a game we had to have. We're not a pretty offense, but when we're running the ball, I think we can beat anyone.''

The numbers support him. Pittsburgh is 19-3 since opening day 2004 in the regular season.

"I thought you were retired,'' I said to Bettis after the crowd around his locker thinned out.

"They tried to put me out to pasture,'' he said, then laughed. "I'm not quite ready.''

Then someone said he was amazed that Bettis still had the ability to make people 10 years younger and much faster miss. He answered the question politely, then turned to me and quietly said: "I never get enough credit for that.''

Well, in a few years, I'll give him his credit, if I'm still sitting in the Hall of Fame selection meetings at the Super Bowl. Bettis is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Among the players I've covered in 22 seasons, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Lawrence Taylor, Brett Favre and Anthony Munoz should get to the Hall before Bettis. That's it. Seven players. Then Bettis. How many running backs are beating stacked defenses at 32 and 33 years old? Sunday in Philadelphia, the Eagles said: We're going to stop LaDainian Tomlinson. He got seven yards. A year ago, I'm sure the Eagles said: We're going to stop Bettis. And he got 149. (I give massive props to the Smith-Faneca-Hartings-led offensive line. He can't do it without those five guys. But the San Diego line is pretty good too.)

Enjoy him while you can, folks. This rodeo won't be in town much longer.

THE FINE FIFTEEN

I have no idea what to do with this. Let me just say that at the top. After Indianapolis, I'm lost. This week's top 15 teams in the NFL:

1. Indianapolis (7-0). This is the only gimme on this list. Now the Colts have 15 days to cool it before the game that could define their season: Nov. 7, Indy at New England.

2. Pittsburgh (4-2). Strange, I'm still skeptical they'd beat the Patriots, injuries in New England and all. But that 47-carry day was so dominant and the defense so stout, I've got to give the Steelers their due.

3. (tie) San Diego (3-4). I refuse to say Uncle. They went east again and a dumb special-teams play beat them.

3. (tie) Philadelphia (4-2). I've got an idea. Why not just take all the pages with running plays on them out of the playbook?

5. Denver (5-2). Still 4-0 at home, where they will face the Eagles in the late game of the week next Sunday.

6. New England (3-3). A month ago, Cleveland Indians GM Mark Shapiro e-mailed his buddy Scott Pioli, the Pats' VP of personnel, and told him nobody cares about injuries. Spoken like a summa cum laude grad of the Parcells/Belichick school of team management.

7. Washington (4-2). Yards gained vs. San Francisco: 457. Yards allowed: 194.

8. New York Giants (4-2). Did you see the block Tiki Barber made on the winning touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer? Picked up the blitz and nailed Denver linebacker D.J. Williams, preventing him from sacking Manning. It takes a lot of players to make a play.

9. Tampa Bay (5-1). Chris Simms, now's your time to show Jon Gruden that not only shouldn't he shop you again, he should give you the starting job for a long time.

10. Seattle (5-2). Josh Brown would be pretty good in the helmet-throwing competition

11. Kansas City (4-2). Well, Dick Vermeil said the Chiefs were going to play their best game of the year on a short week Friday night in Miami. And he was right.

12. Jacksonville (4-2). The Jags are a great example of teams getting jobbed in the Fifteen. I don't know where to put them.

13. Cincinnati (5-2). Almost Halloween and the Bengals haven't beaten a team with a winning record.

14. Dallas (4-3). I have no idea how Drew Bledsoe, a veteran who should know better, could throw that last pass in Seattle.

15. (tie)Carolina (4-2). On his bye Sunday, Jake Delhomme took a long ride in the countryside. Went looking for his rhythm.

15. (tie) Atlanta (4-2). Not sure I like the matchup of Curtis Martin (148 rushing yards last week) vs. the leaky Atlanta D tonight. What may save the Falcs from a nightmare is the Jets losing offensive-line anchor Kevin Mawae for the season to injury last week.