Bengals Early Bird Special: That Was Ugly

Good morning Bengals Nation! It's time to rise and shine. It's Tuesday which means the worst day of the week is over. If for some reason you're still having a bad day then just grab yourself a gallon of coffee and a box of a dozen donuts. I hate Mondays with a passion. Nothing good ever happens on Monday, but maybe that's just me.Anyways just remember despite how much crap you're being given at work, no matter how stressful things are at work or school, things could be worse.

Alright so now it's time to look forward to next season for the Bengals. In all honesty things weren't suppose to be this way. The Bengals were the better team on paper heading into last Saturday's Wild Card game against the Houston Texans. But that wasn't the case as the Bengals were embarrassed by the Texans by a final score of 31-10.

The Texans came out firing on all cylinders. They didn't let up in their relentless assault of the Bengals as a whole unit. Sure the Bengals scored the first touchdown of the game and had a lead about halfway through the second quarter, but after that field goal from Mike Nugent with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half it was all Texans.

To be honest the Bengals deserved this loss. The defense played sloppy and the offense was even worse. Not to bash on Andy Dalton, but he didn't help the Bengals' cause by throwing three interceptions. He's a rookie, it happens. Hopefully this game will be a huge learning experience for him and next year he'll guide the Bengals to a victory in the playoffs. That's the optimist in us fans.

For the Bengals offense the running attack of Cedric Benson and Bernard Scott was completely useless. Seriously, only 25 yards between the two of them on 13 carries? That's pathetic. Words cannot describe how poor of a performance that is from the Bengals feature back and backup. And if that is indeed Benson's last time suiting up as a Bengal then he should be embarrassed for the way he performed. Sure he scored the Bengals' lone touchdown, but he didn't do much of anything else. They needed him in that game more than ever, but that wasn't the case and it ended up being costly.

As for the defense, I only have two things to say. Chris Crocker and no run defense. What happen to him? He's suppose to be one of the veteran leaders on defense and in all honesty he looked rather lost on the field. And the fact that Arian Foster was a one-man wrecking crew for the Texans had to drive Mike Zimmer insane. All season the Bengals only had one performance that was that poor. That was the previous week when Baltimore's Ray Rice ran for 191 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. Other than that one major blip the Bengals rush defense was pretty respectable all season.

But the season is over and there's nothing more to do now other than wait to see what will happen next season. Hopefully after gaining a year of experience the Bengals rookie class of 2011 will develop even more as the Bengals pursue sustained success.

Alright here is a look at what you may have missed or overlooked from Monday.

• Cincy Jungle's Playoff MVP......
• Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and safety Chris Crocker have been honored by the Pro Football Writers of America.
• Check out SB Nation's latest mock draft.
• According to the NFL Network defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer interviewed for the Miami Dolphins head coaching vacancy. Zimmer is also a candidate for the head coaching vacancy in Tampa Bay.
• Cedric Benson believes that the rushing offense "kind of became not important."
• The Bengals have signed most of their practice squad to the offseason roster.
• Jay Gruden denies having contact with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• Check out the Monday Touchdown.
• The Bengals free agency not-wish list.
• The Bengals free agency wish list.