First-place Cincinnati wins for the sixth time in its last eight games.

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Say goodbye to the Bungles. The Bengals are back.

Taking another big step to shed their image as laughable losers, the Cincinnati Bengals manhandled the sad-sack San Diego Chargers 34-27 on Sunday to continue their remarkable turnaround under first-year coach Marvin Lewis.

Jon Kitna matched his career high with four touchdown passes, three of them to Chad Johnson, and Corey Dillon ran for 108 yards on 18 carries to help the Bengals win for the fifth time in six games. It was Johnson who guaranteed Cincinnati’s 24-19 win over previously undefeated Kansas City a week earlier, a victory that proved the Bengals were for real.

And the Bengals (6-5) might very well have handed off their image as the league’s biggest laughingstocks to the Chargers (2-9). San Diego has lost 16 of its last 20 games under coach Marty Schottenheimer and will miss the playoffs for the eighth straight season.

The Bengals continue to share the AFC North lead with Baltimore, which beat Seattle 44-41 in overtime. They’re in contention this late in the season for the first time since 1990, when quarterback Boomer Esiason led them to their last winning record and playoff appearance.

What’s more, they no longer need to dread going on the road. The Bengals came in as three-point favorites even though they’d been 12-48 on the road since the start of the 1996 season.

The Chargers, meanwhile, are in contention to own the top pick in the draft for the second time in four years.

If Cincinnati ends its 12-year playoff drought, the Chargers’ eight-year absence will be the NFL’s longest active streak.

Late in the third quarter, two fans carried a banner around the main stadium walkway that read: “Marty Must Go, Fire Schottenheimer.” Some fans booed when security guards grabbed the banner.

Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson passed the 1,000-yard mark for the third straight season and scored once. Doug Flutie threw two touchdown passes to David Boston.

Kitna completed 24 of 38 passes for 243 yards and picked on Chargers cornerbacks Quentin Jammer and Sammy Davis all day. Johnson beat Jammer both times in catching touchdown passes of 5 and 4 yards on the Bengals’ first two drives for a 14-0 lead.

The Chargers committed penalties on the game’s first three plays from scrimmage and had four overall for 34 yards in the first drive.

After the Chargers pulled to 14-13, Johnson beat Davis on a 12-yard TD catch for a 21-13 lead late in the first half. The Bengals forced the Chargers to punt, then moved 60 yards in just 43 seconds for Kitna’s fourth TD pass, a 4-yarder to rookie Kelley Johnson to lead 28-13 at halftime.

The Bengals had 22 first downs and 308 yards in the first half alone. That’s more yardage than the Chargers had total in four of their last five games. Cincinnati finished with 454 yards, 225 of them rushing.

Cincinnati’s only scoring in the second half came on Shayne Graham’s field goals of 37 and 47 yards.

Tomlinson had 95 yards on 16 carries. He passed the 1,000-yard milestone on a 38-yard run late in the first quarter. He had more yards on that play than he did a week earlier in gaining a career-low 29 yards in an embarrassing 37-8 loss at Denver.

Flutie was 15-of-33 for 210 yards. Boston had nine catches for 139 yards, including TDs of 37 and 26 yards.

San Diego’s Steve Christie kicked field goals of 48 and 26 yards.

AP-ES-11-23-03 1951EST