The Cincinnati Bengals have been ter-ri-ble in prime-time games since the Andy Dalton era began.
On Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights they are 2-6. For a team that has won nine or more games every season since 2011, the trend is flabbergasting.
"I have no idea," defensive end Wallace Gilberry said Thursday of why they struggle in night games, per ESPN.com. "I guess we're afraid of the dark."
Night terrors, however, don't explain the three bombed playoff games Dalton has led, plummeting their record to 2-9 in games where the spotlight shines, regardless of the Earth's relation to the Sun.
With a showdown Monday night against the Denver Broncos, Bengals players know they'll be asked about the record.
"It is annoying and it's our job to make it unannoying," safety George Iloka said. "If we lose this game, the talk will come back again. But that's you all's job to do. ... And if we want to silence the critics, so to say, we've got to put up or shut up. That's how it goes. It might be annoying, but that's on us."
Their two prime-time games this season have been disasters: A 43-17 Sunday night thumping from the Patriots and a 24-3 home blowout loss to the Browns.
Monday night they'll have a chance to rewrite the script, or relive the nightmare.
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