Fingers of blame pointed squarely at quarterback Andy Dalton following the Cincinnati Bengals' disappointing 27-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers.
On NFL Network
NFL Replay
will re-air the
San Diego Chargers' 27-10 win over the
Cincinnati Bengals from Wild Card Weekend on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 3 p.m. ET.
"Unfortunately, the last three years, we haven't been able to win one of these playoff games," Dalton said, per the team's official website. "Obviously, there is going to be a lot of criticism and talk, but until you win and prove people wrong, people can say whatever they want."
Most will say that Dalton is a good regular-season quarterback who can't win in the playoffs and hasn't improved in his three NFL seasons.
Dalton's fumble on a headfirst slide and two interceptions where emblematic of his postseason struggles.
"We didn't make enough plays when we had the chance to make them and we didn't execute as well as they (San Diego) did," the quarterback said when asked what went wrong Sunday. "There is not one particular thing that went wrong, but it cost us the game."
Coach Marvin Lewis stuck up for his quarterback, saying he didn't have "any questions" about Dalton's role.
With the loss, the Bengalsbecame the first team since the 1993 to 1995 Detroit Lions to lose in the first round of the playoffs in three consecutive seasons.
"It is a different kind of disappointment because we're a better team than that," Dalton said. "The core group of our guys were all back from last year and the improvements we've made along the way didn't show with what we did out there today."
The core in Cincinnati is better. Sunday, the quarterback wasn't.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" recapped all the Wild Card Weekend action.
