Despite Win, Andy Dalton Proves Once Again That Bengals Can't Trust QB

The Cincinnati Bengals managed to pick up a win against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday and, by doing so, slipped in front of Baltimore for first place in the AFC North standings. 

If you only caught pieces of the game or a peek at the stat sheet, it would appear that the Bengals were aided by a solid veteran performance from fourth-year quarterback Andy Dalton.

Dalton finished the game 21-of-28 for 266 yards and produced two rushing touchdowns of the sneak variety. The second would prove to be the game-winner.

However, Dalton also made a number of mistakes, including a pair of turnovers, and his inconsistencies could have easily cost the Bengals the football game.

Cincinnati gave Dalton a brand-new $96 million contract during the offseason, so it isn't like he is going anywhere anytime soon. The Bengals brass has made it clear that the team is willing to live and die at the hands of its young quarterback.

In a lot of ways, this mentality makes sense. Statistically, Dalton is one of the best young signal-callers in the NFL, and at times, he looks like it, too. He has led Cincinnati to the playoffs in each of his three seasons and has compiled an impressive 34-20-1 regular-season record.

There are times, however, when Dalton makes you wonder whether he can ever take the next step and take the Bengals on a deep playoff run. His 0-3 record in the postseason is perhaps his biggest red flag.

If you watched Sunday's game in its entirety, you saw the type of performance that is going to preserve questions about Cincinnati's ability to trust Dalton when it matters. 

A prime example of this is the fact that both of Dalton's turnovers (one interception and one fumble) came in the fourth quarter. 

Dalton was strip-sacked by Haloti Ngata with fewer than seven minutes remaining, and the ball was returned to the Cincinnati 8-yard line. Baltimore scored a touchdown on the next play. He saw the pass rush coming on the play and still failed to throw the ball away or put a firm grip on it, so the fumble was ultimately Dalton's fault.

The interception came after Mohamed Sanu couldn't hang on to a late fourth-quarter pass. Sanu was contacted on the play and allow the ball to squirt into the hands of Baltimore's C.J. Mosley.

You could blame Sanu for not hanging on to the pass, but if Dalton doesn't try to force the ball into traffic on the play, the turnover never happens.

This brings us to another troubling Dalton tendency. The former TCU star has a habit of relying on one receiver and forcing the ball to him with frequency. He has done it in the past with A.J. Green (4,147 of Dalton's 12,735 regular-season passing yards before Sunday), and he did it with Sanu against the Ravens.

Sanu accounted for nearly half of Dalton's yardage (125 of 266) on Sunday and bailed him out with a spectacular catch of a very poorly thrown pass on the game's opening drive.

If Sanu doesn't make the ridiculous one-handed grab, Dalton's first pass could have been an interception instead of a 48-yard gain. At the very least, the pass would have fallen incomplete, and the Bengals may not have scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game, changing the whole complexity of the contest.

Bengals fans have likely become accustomed to catches like Sanu's that mask average accuracy and a subpar deep ball from Dalton. 

Dalton's arm strength and downfield accuracy are not his greatest assets. His ability to see the football field and react quickly probably are, but these traits don't hold up when Dalton repeatedly makes poor decisions under pressure.

Dalton is ranked 34th among quarterbacks in deep passing for the season by Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He is rated 38th when throwing under pressure.

The bottom line is that Dalton is an average quarterback taking advantage of an offense with elite talent. He has enough talent to excel when the team around him is playing well, but he has not shown the will to put a struggling team on his shoulders and deliver in key moments.

After three postseason disasters and a number of inconsistent performances like the one the team saw on Sunday, it's fair to wonder just how much the Bengals can trust Dalton moving forward.

When the playoffs roll around at the end of the year, the answer could well be "very little."