Keeping the faith. (I-nformation).

I hate to lose. Losing is something I never will be able to accept or get used to.

Saying this has been a frustrating year for our coaches, my teammates and me is the understatement of the century. We're all competitors, and losing gnaws at each of us. There's no single person, player or coach to blame for what has happened this year. We're all accountable. We're a team, a family, and we win as a team and lose as a team. For a player, there is no worse feeling than trudging back to the locker room on Sunday afternoon after losing a game.

I'm not used to losing. I've won at every level I have ever played: high school, junior college and college. But the most startling thing for me about this year is that these are the most talented teammates I have ever had. Seeing all this talent on one field makes our poor record unfathomable and really tough to take.

I would prefer to be on a winning team with no talent than to be surrounded with talent and have a losing record. We had high expectations going into this season. Some people said we should contend for the division title and a play offs spot. For us to play like we've played this year is just beyond my comprehension. It tears me up because we should have won more games.

We're not quitters. But we're not making plays when we need to make them. When we make mistakes--such as my fumble against Pittsburgh last Sunday--they're magnified. It is hard for all of us in the organization to hear the hosts of the NFL shows criticize us (props to Boomer Esiason of CBS for always picking us to win). Our record is unbearable for us because every player and coach on this team knows we're better than our record.

We're still fighting every week. We want to win, and the desire to win rages inside everyone on this team.

E-mail Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh at tj84@sportingnews.com.