The Bengals lost in excruciating fashion in the AFC Wildcard round Saturday night, with a perfect storm of circumstances denying head coach Marvin Lewis his first playoff victory. The loss dropped Lewis to 0-6 in the playoffs, and the nature of the defeat places him squarely on the hot seat.
Lewis is far from the most blameworthy Bengal, however. He began the game without starting quarterback Andy Dalton, whom the Steelers injured five weeks ago. A.J. McCarron was making just his fifth NFL start, and yet with less than two minutes remaining on the clock, the Bengals were in position to earn a victory. Even though Dalton’s postseason record is flimsy – 0-4, one touchdown and six interceptions – he had the best season of his career in 2015.
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Lewis is known for his defensive mindset, and Cincinnati’s defense was stellar vs. Pittsburgh, holding WR Antonio Brown in check, and only getting pierced by a Martavis Bryant touchdown that will go down in history as one of the most difficult catches ever.
The trouble started, coincidentally, after Lewis’ defense appeared to seal the game. Linebacker Vontaze Burfict, public enemy No. 1 in Pittsburgh, intercepted Landry Jones, who had replaced Ben Roethlisberger after Big Ben injured his shoulder. The Steelers had all their timeouts remaining, but it was Bengals ball at the Steelers’ 14-yard line. On the first play of the Bengals’ possession, RB Jeremy Hill coughed up the ball, and returned it to Pittsburgh.
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Roethlisberger played the hero and came into the game with an obviously injured shoulder, and used an array of short passes and screens to move the ball in small intervals. Roethlisberger’s limited arm strength was given a boost by Burfict, who with 22 seconds left on the clock committed a brutal unnecessary roughness penalty against Brown. Burfict decked Brown in his head and knocked him out; one of the coaches who came to Browns aid, former Steelers LB Joey Porter, shouted at the Bengals as he helped Brown off the field.
That’s when Adam “Pacman” Jones committed his own unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in an effort to get after Porter. The two penalties pushed the Steelers up a whopping 30 yards, and allowed kicker Chris Boswell to nail 35-yard field goal to win the game.
So whose fault is it?
