An undermanned defense and a historically bad offense combined to deliver one of the more complete losses in the Marvin Lewis Era at Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday when the Colts eased to a 27-0 win.
The Bengals missed their first 11 third-down snaps and their fall from first place in the AFC North was made official when they lost 17 yards on one third-quarter series before Kevin Huber launched his franchise-tying 11th punt. The trips into the AFC elite at New England and Indianapolis this month stand at 70-17 against the Bengals.
Like they did all day, the Colts played as if they were wearing Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s helmet radio. They were all over a double pass from wide receiver Mohamed Sanu and when nothing was there, Sanu lost five yards getting chased out of bounds as the Green-Dalton Bengals put up their fewest yards ever (135) and couldn’t avoid their first shutout since the last game of the 2009 season. That was also the last time they had fewer than 135 yards, when they could only manage 72 against the Jets.
But that game was played under much different circumstances than this one. Back then, the Bengals were tuning up for the playoffs the next week and rested their starters on a frigid wind chill factor of a night in the Meadowlands. On Sunday, on a day that was nice enough to open the Lucas roof, the playoffs weren’t on anyone’s mind. The NFL-leading Colts offense took advantage of the crushing time of possession (39:43) to take a 24-0 lead with 11:21 left in the game on running back Ahmad Bradshaw’s 10-yard ramble after a pass, aided by a missed tackle from rookie cornerback Darqueze Dennard.
How bad was the offense? The only time they had fewer yards in a game they tried to win in this century was the notorious 94 in the Sept. 24, 2000 game in Baltimore, the 37-0 loss that turned out to be head coach Bruce Coslet’s last game.
On their 12th attempt on third down with the Colts leading 24-0, Dalton hit Sanu with a leaping 32-yard catch and the Bengals reached the four-yard line but couldn’t punch it in for the touchdown. Right tackle Andre Smith was called for a false start and on fourth-and-four Dalton’s pass from the 4 to tight end Jermaine Gresham was sandwiched for an incompletion.
Dalton’s career-low 40 passer rating (his rookie year against the 49ers) was in jeopardy. But he finished 18-for-38 for a 55.4 rating with 126 yards, his lowest ever in a loss where he played the entire game.
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