Jan 9, 2015 4 min read

Nothing is more disheartening than a short stay in the playoffs, especially in the NFL, where it’s a one-and-done situation.

Only baseball, with its new wild-card format, comes close among the major sports.

Last weekend’s NFL action left fans in four cities, including Pittsburgh, wanting more.

Steelers fans can at least thank their lucky stars that they aren’t Cincinnati fans.

With last weekend’s loss at Indianapolis, the Bengals have not won a playoff game since 1990, going 0-6 during that span. Included in that stretch is an 0-4 record the past four seasons.

All of this led to speculation the Bengals should fire head coach Marvin Lewis.

Are those people out of their minds?

Yes, Lewis is 0-6 in the postseason.

But the more important fact is he gets the Bengals to the postseason.

That’s something no coach did in Cincinnati from 1990 through 2005.

If they need a little history lesson in Cincinnati, they should take a look at what’s happened on the other side of the state.

The Cleveland Browns fired Marty Schottenheimer, who like Lewis is a native of McDonald, in 1988 after he led the team to the playoffs four consecutive seasons – going 2-4. The Browns were in the postseason three times since.

Schottenheimer, meanwhile, went on to lead the Kansas City Chiefs into the postseason seven times over the next 10 seasons.

Yes, he never led a team to a Super Bowl. But can anyone outside of Kansas City – with the exception of 1993 and 1994 seasons when he had an aging Joe Montana – name Kansas City’s quarterbacks from that period? The answer is Steve DeBerg, Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac and Rich Gannon, none of whom would be considered a high-end quarterback.

Lewis is in the same situation in Cincinnati, where he’s winning in spite of quarterback Andy Dalton, an average quarterback at best.

To fire Lewis would be a huge step backwards for the Bengals.

And now, onto this weekend’s games.

Would the Colts have moved on from Peyton Manning had they known he would still be playing three years later with no plans as of yet to retire? Possibly. Andrew Luck has been pretty good. But he won’t be good enough to beat Manning here.

Take Denver, 37-24.

The Ravens are 2-1 at Foxborough Stadium in the postseason against the Tom Brady-led Patriots. And New England has some offensive line issues that could be troublesome against Baltimore’s pass rush. But Brady against the Ravens’ secondary will be too much, though it will be close.

Take the Ravens to cover in a 27-23 loss.

The Panthers come in having won five games in a row. That’s all well and good, but those victories came over New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Atlanta in the regular season and an Arizona team down to its third-string quarterback last week. They might be feeling good about themselves, which is nice. But it won’t be enough to win at Seattle.

Take Seattle, 31-16.

Dallas hasn’t played a postseason game at Lambeau Field since the Ice Bowl in 1967. And this will be the first time in NFL postseason history a team that is unbeaten on the road will face a team that was unbeaten at home. One of the road teams will likely win this weekend. And Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is nursing a calf injury.

How ’bout them Cowboys.

Take Dallas, 27-24.

Last week: 1-3 ATS; 3-1 Straight up

Overall: 113-122-4 ATS; 159-83 Straight up

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.