You've probably heard the numbers enough to know them by heart: Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is 0 for 4 in the playoffs, coach Marvin Lewis is 0 for 6, and it's been a quarter century since this team last won in the postseason.
The good news is that the Bengals have been one of the NFL's most successful franchises in recent years -- since 2011, when Dalton arrived, they're 52-27 in the regular season -- but you don't get trophies for playing well from September to December.
The Bengals are again AFC North champs, and even without Dalton, who suffered a thumb injury in Week 14, second-year quarterback AJ McCarron can help exorcise the demons against the Steelers in Saturday's wild-card matchup. And if Cincinnati gets on a postseason run, maybe Lewis can take his name off this ignominious list.
Of the distinguished names listed above, Lewis is the only one to not win a Super Bowl (and, obviously, a playoff game). So he's certainly due.
That said, you have to wonder what happens if the Bengals lose to the Steelers. Lewis is 112-94-2 in 13 seasons, but both offensive coordinator Hue Jackson and defensive coordinator Paul Guenther will interview for head-coaching jobs in the coming weeks and perhaps owner Mike Brown would rather promote one of them and have Lewis work elsewhere in the organization. (There has been speculation in the past that Lewis could move to the front office, but we're guessing all of that goes away if the Bengals can finally win a playoff game.)
