CINCINNATI (AP) -- Sounds like a perfect September weekend: hang out in sunny San Diego, watch a little football on TV, move into first place without so much as fastening a chin strap.

Perfect? It drove linebacker Junior Seau nuts.

"I sat back and let the NFL entertain me for once," Seau said. "It's quite a sight to see the league go on without us. It was terrible. It was definitely something that wasn't to our liking.

"It feels as if we've been on detention because we had a bye the first week."

Somebody has to be off each week now that there's 31 teams in the NFL with Cleveland back, and San Diego was the odd man out for the first weekend.

As it turned out, the weekend wasn't entirely unproductive. The rest of the AFC West lost, so San Diego was atop the standings before it even ran a play in the regular season.

That's all well and fine. But after sitting out Week 1, the Chargers are really itching to play Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals (0-1) in perhaps the least-attractive matchup of Week 2.

The two last-place finishers from 1998 have played a total of 10 games this year. Their combined victory total: zero.

The Chargers lost all five preseason games under first-year coach Mike Riley. They at least kept all five close with a retooled offense that features Jim Harbaugh taking over for the injured Ryan Leaf.

Riley likes to think the Chargers could be competitive this season, which would be a turnaround in itself. San Diego was 9-23 the last two seasons.

They'll have to get over those first-game jitters and first-game mistakes that the rest of the league worked through while the Chargers were surfing in San Diego _ channel surfing, that is.

"It was very strange on opening day to be watching everybody play," Riley said. "I am kind of worried about it a little bit. It seems like a long time since we've played a ballgame."

The Bengals also were horrendous in preseason, going 0-4 with a virtually nonexistent offense and an injury-depleted cornerback corps. They fell behind by 19 points in the opener at Tennessee, then got their act together and rallied to take the lead in the season opener.

The Titans pulled it out 36-35 on a field goal in the closing seconds, but the Bengals came away feeling good about themselves for the first time since training camp opened.

"It definitely showed the character of this team," safety Greg Myers said. "If we keep fighting like that and giving the effort we did in that game, we're going to win a lot of games."

It was a loss, but an encouraging loss.

"If we play like that every week, we're going to win more than we lose, I promise you that," quarterback Jeff Blake said.

There's one problem with the loss-induced optimism: The Bengals have been down this road many times before in their dismal decade. They've had many emotional, tight losses that gave reason for hope, followed by Bengals bungling the next week.

Coach Bruce Coslet wouldn't let them forget that they lost by only a touchdown to Green Bay and Denver last season and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers twice -- and still wound up 3-13 for the fourth time in the 1990s.

"We made just enough mistakes to cost us the victory," Coslet said. "The important thing now is: How do we respond to that? Are we a one-week wonder?

"I put it to them in no uncertain terms that a lot of people out there will be watching, and I'll be watching real close for that. I believe we will react favorably, but it's still show-me time. We still have a lot to prove."

That was apparent last week. Fans who had given up on the Bengals during preseason were starting to wonder whether they'd been premature. But they still hadn't changed their minds: the home opener didn't sell out in time to allow it to be televised locally.

"The fans have got to be ready to raise the roof," kicker Doug Pelfrey said. "If we can give them anything to cheer for, I think they're going to go crazy."

If the Bengals don't, those same fans will figure they were crazy for thinking anything had changed.

SAN DIEGO Season schedule and results

CINCINNATI Season schedule and results

September 19 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET September 26 Indianapolis 4:05pm ET October 3 Kansas City 4:15pm ET October 10 @Detroit 1:00pm ET October 17 Seattle 4:05pm ET October 24 Green Bay 4:05pm ET October 31 @Kansas City 1:00pm ET November 7 Denver 4:15pm ET November 14 @Oakland 4:05pm ET November 21 Chicago 4:15pm ET November 28 @Minnesota 1:00pm ET December 5 Cleveland 4:15pm ET December 12 @Seattle 4:05pm ET December 19 @Miami 1:00pm ET December 26 Oakland 4:05pm ET January 2 @Denver 4:15pm ET

September 12 @Tennessee L 35-36 September 19 San Diego 1:00pm ET September 26 @Carolina 1:00pm ET October 3 St. Louis 1:00pm ET October 10 @Cleveland 1:00pm ET October 17 Pittsburgh 1:00pm ET October 24 @Indianapolis 1:00pm ET October 31 Jacksonville 1:00pm ET November 7 @Seattle 4:15pm ET November 14 Tennessee 1:00pm ET November 21 Baltimore 4:05pm ET November 28 @Pittsburgh 1:00pm ET December 5 San Francisco 1:00pm ET December 12 Cleveland 1:00pm ET December 26 @Baltimore 1:00pm ET January 2 @Jacksonville 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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