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I had to take a week off from posting. The Bengals’ performance against Pittsburgh was so disgusting, so embarrassing, I just couldn’t even think about them. I’ve barely read Bengals.com this week.

Most of my anger and bile has subsided now. The bye week was well timed. I feel like I could watch them again this week.

A little distance has created some perspective. First, it’s time to admit the Bengals’ competition in the past three games was better than initially thought. Pittsburgh dismantled Washington and has a winning record at 4-3. Miami has ripped off three straight wins and destroyed the Jets on Sunday. Even Cleveland came up with an upset over San Diego.

So perhaps we shouldn’t be quite as disgusted by Cincinnati losing three straight as we have been.

More importantly, though, a little time has allowed me to think about what’s gone wrong. As with most things in the NFL, it starts and ends with the quarterback.

One of the big questions coming into this season was, “Would Andy Dalton have a sophomore slump?” I think the answer is a qualified yes.

Dalton is doing two things that are hurting his game. First, and this has been analyzed already by the national pundits, his release time is awfully fast. That helped him his first year, when he was adjusting to the speed of the game, but now he needs to slow down a bit. He’s missing a lot of passes, because he’s zipping the ball out before things have time to develop. That’s great on a hot read, but he needs to be more patient the rest of the time. He needs to step up in the pocket when it collapses. Scramble out of danger, do things to extend the play. That’s what made the big touchdown to Andrew Hawkins against the Browns in Week 2.

Secondly, he just isn’t accurate on his deep ball. The problem isn’t Dalton’s arm strength. He throws it down the field as well as most QB’s in the NFL. The problem is he doesn’t get it where it needs to be. He overthrows or underthrows. When it’s going to AJ Green, he can get away with that some of the time. But not every time. Not really even half the time. He’s got to work on his accuracy and touch, so his receivers can make a play when they get open. He had Green open on the Bengals’ last series against the Steelers and threw it way too high.

Of course, it’s not all Dalton’s fault. The number of passes receivers have dropped in the past three games is unconscionable. TE Jermaine Gresham caught a 57-yard touchdown against Cleveland and has since dropped practically everything thrown at him. Every other receiver on the team, it seems has dropped a pass, usually when he was open for a first down.

So if the Bengals are going to save this season, or even put themselves in a position where they can break out next season, Andy Dalton is going to have to grow as a quarterback. He’s got to stop rushing his decisions on passing downs, and he’s got to put the ball closer to the receivers, who in turn need to catch the damned thing.

I never expected Cincinnati to win every game this year — I was dubious they could win 10 — and even if they’d entered the Steelers game 5-1, I would have been nervous about their chances. It is Pittsburgh after all.

But they can’t be giving games away because they can’t convert on third down, and that’s what Dalton and his receivers have been giving us for the past three games. Now the schedule gets tougher. They need to get this figured out and soon.

Otherwise, it’s another huge missed opportunity in Bengaldom. A soft early schedule and an emerging and young team were positioned to make a move.

Instead, they’re stuck in neutral.