The third time is a charm?

Oh those Bengals of mine!

They finished with their best record of Marvin Lewis' tenure (11-5).

They face the San Diego Chargers today (a team they beat in the first week of September in San Diego) in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.  This is the first time they have faced the Chargers since the infamous Freezer Bowl game in 1981 (that happened to be the game that turned me into a Bengals fan).  The Bengals beat the Dan Fouts led Chargers that day 27-7 to go to the Super Bowl.

Let's hope they get the win again today too.

So far Marvin Lewis is 0-4 in the playoffs.  In 2005 he had a great chance to beat the dreaded Steelers. Until his Pro Bowl quarterback, Carson Palmer, had his knee torn up on his second play of the game (a 77 yard completion to Chris Henry).  The Bengals never recovered and fell apart.

In 2009 they limped into the playoffs and couldn't muster any semblance of an offense against the Jets.

In 2011, Andy Dalton's rookie year, the Bengals shocked the world and made the playoffs as a wild card. Houston's  JJ Watt intercepted Dalton (and returned it for a touchdown) just before the half to put the game out of reach.

In 2012 the Bengals again qualified as a wild card and again traveled to Houston.  Again, Dalton struggled mightily.  Despite finishing the season strong on defense (going 7-1) over the last half of the season, the Bengals couldn't beat the Texans.  The only TD was Leon Hall's pick six. And Dalton played terribly, missing AJ Green on a sure fire TD with under five minutes in the game.

Now 2013 is here.  Let's hope for Dalton, the third time is a charm.

This year Dalton has played much better than his previous two years. He certainly has thrown more interceptions than anyone would like to see, but in only his third year he has set franchise records for most passing yards (besting Carson Palmer) and touchdowns (besting Boomer Esiason).  That's not bad.

This year, Dalton has many more weapons at his disposal than he had in previous years.  In the backfield, Dalton now has the exciting rookie Giovanni Bernard who is lethal on screens out of the backfield.  He has a solid grinder in BJGE.

Dalton has two talented tight ends, Jermaine Gresham - and if he is inconsistent, as he was in last year's playoff loss - then Dalton can go to their first round draft choice this year, Tyler Eifert.

At wide receiver the Bengals are loaded.  Last year Mohammed Sanu was out for the year with a foot injury and Marvin Jones was a rookie who just caught his first touchdown pass the previous week.  Now, they're vets.  Sanu has started every game and Jones scored 20 touchdowns and is a great second threat.  Of course, the passing offense begins and ends with the phenomenal AJ Green, who is having his best year and has made his third straight Pro Bowl.

Their line is solid, having moved Andre Witworth to left guard and having Anthony Collins come of the bench to start at LT.

Their defense is lights out.  They can sack the quarterback.  Their linebackers are solid, led by the exceptional Pro Bowl linebacker Vontaze Burfict.  Their secondary has suffered injuries (they are without their original starting corners), but at home they have picked off their share of passes.

It all comes down to Dalton.  Let's hope he forgets how he played in the playoffs the past two years.  Let's have him go back to how he played in bowl games in college where he was bowl MVP in three of four seasons, culminating in his final game as Rose Bowl MVP in a win over Wisconsin.

As Marvin Lewis said when asked about his 0-4 playoff record: "well, hopefully, I'll be 4-4 at the end of the season."