I was as much taken with Cincinnati's finish to the season as most were. The best yards per play defense in the entire NFL over the final seven weeks, complimenting Mike Zimmer’s aggressive schemes which have produced more sacks than any other team over the past two seasons.
However their second wildcard exit in as many years on the back of a totally inept offensive display is cause for great concern.
In last year’s wildcard loss to the Texans, Cincinnati committed 3 turnovers, scored just 10 points and were shut out in the second half, with the 31-10 loss marking a terrible end to a promising season.
However this season’s loss, and the offensive performance which underpinned it, was even more disheartening.
This year, their offense produced just 6 points (they’re other 7 were curtsey of a Leon Hall pick six) while it was kept to less than 200 yards for just the third time all season.
They were a truly miserable 0/9 on third down (they at least went 6/13 in last year’s loss) which was a large reason Houston were able to possess the ball for a whopping 17 more minutes than the Bengals.
Cincinnati has made some excellent strides under the Marvin Lewis regime with 4 seasons of playoff football (compared with the solitary season in the previous 14) testament to the almost total change of complexion for this franchise.
Yet playoff exits such as the last two ultimately count for nothing. Particularly when they bow down without a fight.
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