The Cincinnati Bengals were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round for the third consecutive season in what was a complete no-show during Wildcard Weekend.

The Bengals were a team that looked like they simply did not belong. They were unbelievably outplayed by a team, the Chargers, that had no business in the playoffs in the first place. Not only did the Bengals get beat down, but it was the only NFL playoff game that was non-competitive.

The Bengals did not get routed because of lack of talent. The Bengals certainly looked like a playoff team much of the year. They even went to San Diego and beat the Chargers at home in the regular season. I don’t think anybody would argue that the Chargers are a better team. It was the Bengals stupid mistakes that a team in the playoffs for a third straight year simply does not make.

Andy Dalton threw two huge interceptions and fumbled on three absolutely huge possessions. All of those turnovers were big drive killers, but none of them were the biggest turnovers of the game. The Bengals were inside the five yard line and ready to score and take the game over when Bengals rookie Giovanni Bernard fumbled the ball. The Bengals couldn’t recover the ball or the game. This was clearly a momentum changer. The ball game was completely different after this play.

The rest of the game was all Chargers as they cruised en route to a 27-10 beat down. The Chargers scored 20 unanswered points in the second half and their defense blanked the turnover prone Bengals.

This is just the latest disappointment for a franchise and a fan base that hasn’t witnessed a playoff win in 23 long years. That is the longest streak in the NFL.

This was the year the Bengals were supposed to breakout and finally win at least one playoff game. The former great executive Bill Polian called the Bengals the deepest team in the league. He even picked us to sweep through the AFC and make it to the Super Bowl.

This is where I have to call out Marvin Lewis and Bengals fans might want to listen when I say this.

When a coach has the roster that is the “deepest in the league” and has the star power and defense and offensive line that the Bengals possess and the team comes out as flat as it team did in the first round of the playoffs, then his job has to be in jeopardy.

Marvin Lewis had everything at his disposal and failed. Especially the way that he failed. When a team comes out with no energy for a playoff game and makes the mistakes that the Bengals made, that responsibility falls on the coach.

It is not just in the playoffs where Marvin Lewis failed to get his team ready to play. Chicago Bears Wide Receiver said that the Bengals lost to the Bears because “ they were immature”. In that game, The Bengals could have gotten the ball back to attempt a tie, but after getting a stop on third down with 30 seconds left they were called for a personal foul after the play. The Bears got a first down and won the game. Immaturity and stupid mistakes are a reflection on the head coach more than anything else. I mean we saw Detroit fire Jim Schwartz for that this year.

Lovie Smith, who has gotten to a Super Bowl, was fired after a 10-6 season. The Bengals begged Marvin Lewis to come back after a 4-11-1 season! Lewis actually walked out of negotiations before they resigned him on a 4 year deal. Only. The. Bengals.

This is not the only season where Marvin has failed. He has been there 11 seasons! He has a career record of 90-85 and 0-5 in the playoffs. That is the worst playoff record in the history of the NFL and is the first coach to lose his first five playoff games. There is reason for that. The reason is because coaches don’t get five chances to win their playoff games. They get fired before they lose that many. But not the Bengals.

Now I get to the man that is responsible for every reason the Bengals are screwed up. Mike Brown is simply the worst owner in not only pro football, but all of professional sports in America.

Mike Brown relishes in mediocrity.  This is the man that has threatened to move the team out of Cincinnati if the city didn’t vote to for a new stadium. This is the man that basically stole money from the city of Cincinnati for a 10 million dollar scoreboard. Yet, this man refuses to spend all of the money in cap space to field a better team.

There have been reports that Mike Brown wanted to draft Colin Kaepernick and Ryan Mallet over Dalton but Jay Gruden convinced him to take Dalton. This is just classic Mike Brown. Who do you think released this to Adam Schefter? Probably Mike Brown. It’s funny how we didn’t hear anything out of Mike Brown when he drafted Akili Smith. We didn’t hear a peep out of Mike Brown when we drafted Chris Perry over Steven Jackson. How about Peter Warrick or David Pollack? Not one word out of Mike Brown.

Mike Brown refuses to upgrade the awful facilities that the Bengals have. He simply does not care about the Bengals as long as he is happy about the bottom line (financially). That is the same reason he has kept a mediocre coach for 11 seasons. The Same reason the Bengals haven’t won a playoff game in 23 years. It is because this man could care less about the fans, the players, the coach.

One former player told ESPN that the smell the tunnel going from the locker room to the field at Paul Brown was the worst in the NFL.

That is another reflection of the worst owner in all of sports. The man simply does not care.

Now I get to the quarterback. Andy Dalton is following the career path of Matt Schaub. Solid Quarterback, but when it is time to win a BIG football game he is nowhere to be found. Andy Dalton has thrown more touchdown passes than Peyton Manning in his first three years. Dalton has gotten the Bengals to the playoffs each of the last three years. He has already made a Pro Bowl. With all of that said, there is clearly something missing.

Any quarterback is going to put up numbers when you have the weapons Dalton has. He has one of if not the best receiver in football in A.J. Green. Who by the way I am still looking for. We should send out a search party for the best receiver in football because that man was a no show in the first round of the playoffs. Dalton has a Pro-Bowl tight end in Jermaine Gresham ,one of the best offensive lines in the game and rising talents Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert.

This team is one piece away and clearly that piece is the quarterback. Your telling me Johnny Manziel couldn’t do better if he had the weapons the Bengals have? Of course he would. The Bengals need a quarterback that is going to go make a play. When it is time to win he goes out and makes a play instead of a turnover. I have seen far too many turnovers in the last three years in the playoffs.

I can give you all the stats that support Dalton. I can give you all of the stats that don’t support Dalton, but at the end of the day numbers never lie but they never tell a whole story either. To me, the only stat that matters is 0-3. Dalton is 0-3 in the playoffs and its not just the record it is that he played poorly in all of them.

We can give Dalton a pass for the first one in his rookie year and maybe the second one because it was on the road. But, the third one is unacceptable. It cannot be tolerated.

Our quarterback can’t be completely to blame. Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden had a lot of people upset with the play calls. Specifically, the fact that Giovanni Bernard get the ball more. Unfortunately for the fans that wanted him fired he was hired to be the Washington Redskins head coach. I am certain he was asked about his playoff struggles with Andy Dalton. Apparently, the Redskins were able to overlook them. Unlike some Bengals fans.

Will Dalton get another year? Probably. Will Marvin Lewis get another  year? Yes. This is the exact reason that Cincinnati will never win a Super Bowl.

When you have mediocre owner, a mediocre coach, and a mediocre quarterback you will get you mediocre results.