CINCINNATI (AP) - A drubbing of the defending Super Bowl champions has given the Bengals a second chance.

A 31-13 win over the New York Giants on Sunday moved them to 4-5 with struggling teams ahead on the schedule the next few weeks, representing a chance to get back into the wild card playoff chase.

The Bengals play at Kansas City on Sunday, then host Oakland. They're three games behind first-place Baltimore in the AFC North.

Players found it notable on Monday that they'd soundly beaten a good team. That was their biggest problem last season, when they went 0-8 against teams that reached the playoffs.

The win also could generate fan interest. There were nearly 9,000 empty seats for the game on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

---

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL