Another disappointment in Cincinnati

After yet another postseason loss, the Cincinnati Bengals extended their streak of consecutive seasons without a playoff win to an NFL-leading 23 years. Coming into the 2013 NFL season, the Bengals had very high hopes for a long season after building a talented team over the last few years. Adding veteran linebacker James Harrison to an already athletic and physical defense seemed to make the Bengals one of the best defenses in all the NFL. Coming off an 10-6 record from 2012, Bengals fans like me expected them to win their division and make a run at the Super Bowl.

They started the season off well, going 6-2 over the first eight games including wins over the Packers, Patriots and Steelers. It seemed as if this might finally be the year for the Bengals to break through, until injuries chipped away their roster. On Halloween night in Miami, they lost Geno Atkins to injury and had already lost cornerback Leon Hall for the year. To make things worse, they would lose to the Dolphins in overtime on a game-ending safety. But the Bengals were resilient despite all the injuries and finished with an 11-5 record, while winning the AFC North.

They would have a home playoff game for the first time since 2009 against the San Diego Chargers who just barely snuck into the playoffs after finishing the year on a high note. Cincinnati posted an 8-0 record at home during the regular season so it seemed as if the Chargers would be no match for the Bengals at “The Jungle”, especially since the Bengals had gone into San Diego and beat the Chargers on the road just a few weeks ago. But the Chargers outscore the Bengals 20-0 at the end of the game to advance to the divisional round of the playoffs.

It was a very disappointing loss for a team with such high expectations. Many will put the blame on quarterback Andy Dalton after posting another below-average playoff performance. His stature as the Bengals quarterback is now in question and I, for one, don’t understand. While I will agree that he needs to play better in the playoffs, he has led his team to the playoffs three consecutive years for the first time in franchise history. During each of his first three seasons, he has improved his statistics and his team’s record. For some reason we expect these young quarterbacks to come into the NFL and win a Super Bowl immediately. It takes time and everyone needs to calm down about Dalton.

The loss to the Chargers wasn’t all Daltons fault either. If Giovani Bernard wouldn’t have fumbled the ball at the four yard-line and if the offensive line would have decided to show up then it might have been a much different game. Peyton Manning didn’t win a playoff game until his fifth NFL season and look at him now. Sure, Dalton will need to improve his play, but he is currently on a very talented team that will break through. Fans just needs to be patient. Nobody likes to be patient when it comes to an NFL quarterback but with Dalton we need to be. He is a very good quarterback but is still young and I expect him to prove all his doubters wrong next season.