Andy Dalton’s Struggles Continue: What Happens Next?

Another chapter has been written in Andy Dalton’s NFL Playoffs book.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback and leader (with questionable pre-game speech abilities below) failed to sustain drives and hit the deep ball all day long. His performance wasn’t enough, something that sounds all too familiar for fans in Cincinnati.

Indianapolis’ 26-10 win marks the fourth consecutive time Dalton started in a postseason game and lost, and a seventh-consecutive Bengals playoff loss.

It was evident early and often that Dalton missed A.J. Green and Jermaine Gresham in a big way. All five first-half drives were extremely conservative, almost giving the look that the trust in Dalton simply wasn’t there.

The deep ball failed early, balance in the run game was non-existent, and at the end of the day, Dalton’s performance simply wasn’t good enough in the most crucial game of the year.

Despite a few impressive check-downs and tosses to the flats, the fourth-year QB was stifled and held to a very lackluster four quarter performance – one that would sum up Dalton’s playoff experiences over his tenure in Cincinnati.

More from NFL Mocks

• 2024 NFL Mock Draft Journal: Cardinals, Falcons tank for USC QB Caleb Williams
• Patriots News & Rumors: Ezekiel Elliott talks fun in Foxboro; Mills to Packers?
• Fantasy Football: 5 reasons Colts QB Anthony Richardson can be a top-end option
• Packers’ Lukas Van Ness will make a Lambeau leap into the NFL in 2023
• 2024 NFL Draft: Hunter Haas’ Top 50 Big Board

The effort and gameplan seemed to be there; ultimately, Dalton and the rest of the offense just couldn’t execute. A significant disappointing trend is continuing for Cincinnati, one that has to bring up questions surrounding Dalton’s near future in the orange and black.

The argument will be simple: he was dealt a tough hand, but “elite” quarterbacks get the job done through adversity.

Sans Gresham and Green, this offense isn’t built to win in a game like this. At some point however, this team is going to take a hard look at Dalton and evaluate, in layman’s terms, his “clutch factor”.

The 27-yard-old completed just over 50.0% of his passes, tallying just 155 yards without a touchdown in the most important game of the season.

You could argue he had his best postseason performance of his career, but at the end of the day, what does that say about his ability to win in tough spots?

Does he get a pass with his two biggest playmakers sidelined?

Is Marvin Lewis and his staff the problem?

Questions like these will be plentiful in the coming weeks for the Bengals brass.