The Cincinnati Bengals had their season come to a disappointing end, as they suffered a 31-10 defeat to the Houston Texans.
The Bengals came out and played pretty well in the first half of their Wild Card playoff game.
However, it all hit the fan right before halftime, when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton had his pass picked off and returned for a touchdown by rookie defensive lineman J.J. Watt.
The Bengals never seemed to recover from that.
Cedric Benson gave the Bengals the lead with a 1 yard run in the first quarter.
Arian Foster, who ran for 153 yards on 24 carries, tied the game with an 8 yard touchdown run.
Once again, Mike Nugent failed to convert on a critical field goal, missing a 52 yarder.
He did manage to make a 37 yard field goal to give the Bengals a 10-7 lead.
The Bengals defense stood tall and held the Texans to a Neil Rackers 39 yard field goal, tying the game at 10.
The momentum took a huge swing in Houston's favor, as rookie defensive lineman J.J. Watt batted down an Andy Dalton pass and returned it for a touchdown, with a little over a minute left in the first half.
There was nothing Dalton could have done as Watt just made a damn good play. Props to him for making a play.
The Bengals never seemed to recover from that.
Things snowballed on the Bengals in the second half.
Safety Chris Crocker failed to regain momentum as he dropped an easy interception. Shortly there after, Texans wideout Andre Johnson causes Adam Jones to lose his jockstrap on a move and scores on a wide open 40 yard touchdown pass.
Crocker screwed up once again in the fourth quarter as he basically watched Foster run right by him on his way to a 42 yard touchdown run. It was truly pathetic. In a playoff game, you have to put in some sort of effort to make a tackle. Crocker failed to provide that effort. It was embarrassing.
The big question is, should Marvin Lewis come back to coach this team for another season. The three times the Bengals have made the playoffs under Lewis, they have ended the same way, with a loss.
The latter 2, have been lackluster performances.
Personally, I think the Bengals should look at moving in a different direction.
For all you fans who think Bill Cowher or John Gruden will coach here, you're insane. Neither one will ever be the coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Not in a million years.
I like Marvin Lewis, however, I feel the direction needs to change. If I were Mike Brown, I would give Mike Zimmer a shot to coach this team.
Things will be very interesting in Bengal land over the next couple of months.
Regardless, it is looking very positive coming up. With two first round picks in the upcoming draft and a young, talented team, we should be happy as Bengals fans and get behind this team.
That doesn't take away the sting of this loss.
For the last time this season, Who Dey.
