For Andy Dalton, Bengals more disappointment in NFL playoffs as Colts advance
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Version 0 of 1. It was more of the same Sunday for Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals. And more of the same was not what the Bengals had in mind when they signed Dalton last summer to a new, eyebrow-raising contract. The Bengals bowed out of the AFC playoffs Sunday with a 26-10, opening-round loss to the Colts in Indianapolis. The season-ending defeat for Cincinnati came a week after the Bengals lost in Pittsburgh with the AFC North title — and the chance to host a postseason game — at stake. Reaching the playoffs should not be treated as a foregone conclusion in Cincinnati. The Bengals are a once-downtrodden franchise that had reached the postseason twice in 20 years before Dalton became their quarterback. He has taken the team to the playoffs for four straight seasons. But this was a season in which more was hoped for, and more was expected, after the Bengals signed Dalton to a six-year contract extension worth as much as $115 million. That deal showed that Dalton had established himself as a player around which a contender could plan to build. But it also signified that it was time for the next step to be taken, and the next step is postseason success. It didn’t happen. Dalton’s playoff record dropped to 0-4, and the Bengals again are going home wondering about what might have been. The season began for Cincinnati with a clutch victory in Baltimore in which Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green teamed to make the game-winning play, after which Green said these were not the same, old Bengals. But the season ended with Green sidelined after suffering a concussion in the Pittsburgh game, and with Dalton unable to get much going on offense without his standout receiver. He threw for 155 yards in a 18-for-35 passing performance. That comes after a regular season in which Dalton had 19 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions, and was the league’s No. 25-rated passer. The Bengals lost both of their coordinators, Jay Gruden and Mike Zimmer, to head coaching jobs after last season. Getting back to the playoffs, especially while playing in a rugged division that sent three teams to the postseason, was an accomplishment. Gruden’s successor as the Cincinnati offensive coordinator, Hue Jackson, could interview for head coaching vacancies this offseason. There will be more retooling to be done. It almost certainly is not time for the Bengals to give up on Dalton and Coach Marvin Lewis. They have done some very good things in a place in which good things rare before their arrival. The Bengals made a financial commitment to Dalton that warrants giving him more than one year to judge whether or not it will pay off. And for context, Y.A. Tittle also lost his first four playoff starts during his Hall of Fame career. But that history will do little to diminish the immediate sting as the season ends for Cincinnati with more than a dash of disappointment. The Colts move on to an AFC semifinal next weekend at Denver in which quarterback Andrew Luck faces his predecessor in Indianapolis, Peyton Manning. Luck threw for 376 yards Sunday in his second career playoff triumph. The Colts got moving again after two straight games at the end of the regular season in which Luck, with the AFC South crown already in hand, had early exits. But it was an uneven performance Sunday by the Colts in which dropped passes and other miscues early on kept the Bengals within striking distance. Having Luck, the NFL’s leader in touchdown passes during the regular season, gives the Colts a chance to upset the Broncos. But they’ll have to play better from start to finish than they did Sunday to make that happen. Around the NFL Recap: Colts 26, Bengals 10 Kilgore: Steelers rushed back Roethlisberger, Miller Maske: Ravens oust Steelers, advance to face Patriots Panthers swarm Cardinals NFC Wild Card Preview: Lions vs. Cowboys |