CINCINNATI (AP) -Coach Marvin Lewis insists a botched extra point wasn't responsible for the Cincinnati Bengals' season-turning loss.

He's right. A lot of very bad things have happened during a two-game meltdown that turned the Bengals into a long shot for the playoffs.

A bad snap on an extra-point with 46 seconds to play left the Bengals with a 24-23 loss Sunday in Denver, costing them their lead in the AFC wild-card race. Now, they need a lot of help to reach the playoffs.

``I would have bet my life savings that we would have made that one,'' receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said. ``It is just a microcosm of our season.''

One that could very easily end on Sunday.

To keep playing, the Bengals (8-7) have to beat Pittsburgh at Paul Brown Stadium. The game will have special significance for the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers, given that coach Bill Cowher is mulling retirement.

A victory wouldn't get Cincinnati into the playoffs by itself.

The Bengals have fallen a game behind Denver (9-6) and the New York Jets (9-6) for the wild-card berths. In order to Cincinnati to move ahead, the Jets would have to lose Sunday at home to Oakland, which is tied with Detroit for the NFL's worst record at 2-13 and hasn't won on the road all season.

The other way in: Denver loses at home to San Francisco (6-9), and Kansas City (8-7) beats Jacksonville (8-7), giving the Bengals a wild-card berth by virtue of the tiebreakers.

That's a lot to ask.

The Bengals can blame themselves for their predicament.

They won the AFC North last season because they played well consistently. They didn't lose consecutive regular-season games until the last week, when they rested their starters for most of a loss at Kansas City that left them 11-5.

This year, they're a team of extremes.

They opened 3-0, branding themselves as a force. Then they dropped five of six and were on the verge of imploding. Star players questioned the play calling and teammates' toughness.

They regrouped during the most favorable stretch of their schedule, beating New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore and Oakland to get back into contention and move to the front of the pack of wild-card contenders.

With a chance to clinch a playoff spot, they've played two of their worst games back-to-back: a 34-16 loss in Indianapolis, followed by the stunning defeat in Denver. In both games, they let the pressure get to them.

``You cannot come out tense and tight, and we need to get away from that,'' Lewis said.

Their biggest stars have made the biggest blunders.

Carson Palmer has played his worst back-to-back games of the season, throwing for a combined 385 yards with six sacks, two touchdowns and two interceptions. His passer ratings for those two games were 69.9 and 63.4, way below average.

The Bengals had a chance to take control of the game in Denver early when safety Dexter Jackson intercepted Jay Cutler's first pass and returned it to the 5-yard line. Palmer overthrew an uncovered Houshmandzadeh on third-and-goal, setting up an interception that set the tone for the game.

Palmer later overthrew Chad Johnson and Chris Henry after they'd beaten defenders downfield.

``We are beating ourselves,'' Palmer said.

Johnson had a particularly miserable game. He let a pass bounce off his chest on third-and-21, and fumbled to stop another drive.

``It could have been my worst first half ever,'' said Johnson, who has a total of six catches for 69 yards without a touchdown in the last two games. ``I dropped the ball, I fumbled, and it just didn't play out the way it should have.''

Running back Rudi Johnson lost a fumble for the second time this season - he lost only one fumble all last year - and the Bengals played loose with the ball again. In the last two losses, they have fumbled nine times, losing three of them.

Penalties were another clue the Bengals were distracted by the pressure. They had eight penalties in Denver, one of which wiped out a 75-yard touchdown pass.

``We continue to hurt ourselves,'' Lewis said.

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