The Bengals are a second-quarter team, not a fourth-quarter team

I'd like to take you back to a time that seems so far away now. When this period of our lives began, clocks in the eastern time zone where I am located read about 2 p.m. ET. It was the beginning of the second quarter, a far more joyous time for the Cincinnati Bengals today during their eventual 27-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

During that quarter, all was well for the later bumbling Bengals, or mostly well. In fact, when we go back and look at that one quarter and the Bengals' two drives, the mind can't understand how the rest of the game played out. Until you see the very end of the second drive.

Cincy scored all 10 of their points in one quarter, meaning they scored exactly zero in the other three. Clearly that's bad, but normally all scoring being isolated in one quarter would be a sort of quirk, but the Bengals aren't normal. They went undefeated at home this season, and over their last five games at Paul Brown stadium including today, Cincinnati outscored opponents 62-0 in the second quarter.

That second-quarter scoring usually led to just a whole lot of scoring, as in their four home games directly prior to today the Bengals' opponents were outscored 159-79. Three of those games featured over 40 points for the home side.

So yes, today that pre-halftime dominance arrived as it always does, and it was even more astounding when we look at the offensive yardage. In the second quarter the Bengals outpaced the at the time disorganized Chargers (who attempted just six first half passes, a career low for Philip Rivers) with 146 offensive yards to their 49.

Cincinnati's 10 points were actually meager then considering that dominance, and a Chargers offense that couldn't stay on the field. And the reason for that lack of scoring despite the abundance of offense was a Giovanni Bernard fumble on the goal-line which came directly after a 49-yard completion to Marvin Jones.

And thus the crumbling began. A 10-7 Bengals lead at halftime after a Mike Nugent field goal (hey, did you know he watched football from his mother's womb?) was erased by the not at all dandy Andy Dalton, who went through a rather dark stretch midway through the third quarter and into the fourth. Over a period of 12 Bengals plays, three of them ended in Dalton turnovers, all with equal levels of herp derp. Especially his fumble when he dove head first into the ground, and a gremlin may have pried the ball loose. The other two were interceptions on poor reads and poor throws made by a poor playoff quarterback on this day.

Alas, there was still hope even after those turnovers. Two of them took place deep in Cincinnati territory, yet the Chargers turned the three gifts into only six points. But no, two turnovers on downs later after what would have likely been a 55-yard touchdown was knocked out of A.J. Green's hands meant that for the 23rd straight season, a playoff win isn't happening for the Cincinnati Bengals. They were outscored 20-0 in the second half.

The final backside boot was a 58-yard touchdown run by Ronnie Brown. His longest run this season prior to today? 13 yards (his offense finished with 196 rushing yards, far more than San Diego's season per game average of 122.8). With that the AFC divisional bracket is set for next weekend, with the Colts traveling to New England, and Chargers head coach Mike McCoy going back to Denver, his former place of employment as an offensive coordinator.

A month ago after a Week 13 loss to the Bengals, McCoy was leading a 7-6 team that realistically needed to win out and then get help to qualify for the playoffs. All of that happened, and now somehow the Chargers will be playing in mid-January.