In the Wild Card round of the playoffs, the Cincinnati Bengals and Head Coach Marvin Lewis traveled to Lucas Oil Stadium to take on the Indianapolis Colts and Head Coach Chuck Pagano. Notoriously in the past few seasons, the Bengals have not had what it takes to win in the Wild Card Round. So, when Cincinnati got to the playoffs again, fans were hoping that they would be able to figure out what was needed to win.
However, the Colts had the Bengals’ number and even though the teams started out with close scoring, the Colts would eventually pull away for the win. In this matchup, the Colts would also score their first opening drive touchdown since this time last year when they played the Kansas City Chiefs. Ultimately, however, the majority of the points were scored by Kicker Adam Vinatieri. He kicked a total of four field goals and two extra points for 14 of the Colts 26 points.
In the game, Andrew Luck completed 31 of 44 passes for 376 yards and one touchdown to Donte Moncrief. Luck also rushed twice for a total of 18 yards. The Colts rushers also rushed for 96 yards and one touchdown. On the other side of the ball, Andy Dalton completed 18 of 35 passes for 115 yards and rushed 4 times for 34 yards. The only touchdown scored by the Bengals was a rushing touchdown scored by Jeremy Hill.
The most important thing to change when the Colts travel to Sports Authority Field to play the Broncos is that they will need touchdowns not field goals if they expect to win that game and go on to the AFC Championship Game. It will definitely be interesting to see how the Colts will adjust to the fast paced play of Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, but not impossible as Peyton was a part of the Colts until he injured his neck and missed a whole season and then the Colts decided to draft Andrew Luck and let Peyton go.