INDIANAPOLIS -- One would think this is the quintessential marriage of convenience.

The Cincinnati Bengals are looking for a new quarterback. Elvis Grbac, released Friday by the Baltimore Ravens and suddenly cast into a buyer's market, is looking for a job. Two entities in search of a common ground -- simple survival -- and whose similar interests would seem likely to facilitate a coupling, right?

	Grbac

Wrong.

After a day of negotiations, fueled in part by desperation on both sides, the Bengals and agent Jim Steiner broke off talks late Saturday night without even an offer. And whether the bargaining pause represented a temporary truce, a cooling-off period, or a cessation of talks remains to be seen.

Only this much is certain for now: In a quarterback market constantly in flux, and where the landscape is changing from day to day, hesitation may not be the most prudent course of inaction. The quarterback openings are shutting down and, when the tune stops playing in this high-stakes game of musical chairs, some player of starting caliber is going to be left without a place to sit.

Grbac, who rebuffed a Bengals contract offer last spring to sign with the Ravens, appeared to have a seat dusted off for him on Saturday afternoon. Earlier in the day, the Bengals received the news that free agent Trent Dilfer, the man who topped their quarterback wish list, resigned with the Seattle Seahawks and quickly turned their attentions to Grbac.

But after a day of on and off discussions between Steiner and Bengals official Troy Blackburn, and just a few hours after it seemed that an agreement was imminent, talks broke down. And it seems there is some difference of opinion over how the stoppage should be interpreted.

Steiner said there are no talks planned.

The Bengals' spin is that they will revisit the quarterback situation in due time (translation: when Grbac's price drops to within the range they prefer to pay for him) and plan now to move forward in pursuit of other free agent needs. As for Grbac, he is in no man's land at a time when that neighborhood is even more perilous than at most junctures.

"If you get overanxious (in free agency), you pay a (steep) price and we don't plan to do that," owner Mike Brown said of the Grbac discussions. "We'll get someone who doesn't blow up our future. There are plenty of hens in the hen house."

So while Elvis rocks on with only modest interest from other teams, the Bengals will roll after Miami defensive end Kenny Mixon and Chicago corner Walt Harris, two unrestricted veterans who would fill Bengals holes. At some point next week, Blackburn may pick up the phone and call Steiner, just to see where the Grbac situation stands.

Cincinnati will also closely monitor developments with Drew Bledsoe, and the Bengals privately feel his price tag may drop if the Patriots don't soon get some trade offers.

The irony with Grbac is that he turned down a $12 million signing bonus from the Bengals last year, in a deal that would have paid him $16 million in its first two years, far more than the pact he eventually signed with Baltimore.

The upshot is that, while Grbac is saying all the right things about wanting to play for a team that is close to his hometown, both sides Saturday allowed an opportunity to slip.

The good news for the Bengals is that there are plenty of alternatives.

The bad news for Grbac is that there aren't a lot of options for him.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer at ESPN.com.