Chargers at Bengals

Welcome to playoff day as the Bengals take on the Chargers in an AFC Wild Card round game.  The Bengals are trying to end a 22-season drought between postseason wins.

The Bengals are in the black jerseys and black pants. They are 12-9-1 with that combination. As for inactives, no surprises. The Bengals have WR Dane Sanzenbacher, CB Terence Newman, RB Rex Burkhead, OT Tanner Hawkinson, DT Ogemdi Nwagbuo, TE Kevin Brock and WR Ryan Whalen.

San Diego inactives are QB Brad Sorensen, WR Lavelle Hawkins, SS Brandon Taylor, CB Marcus Cromartie, OL Stephen Schilling, OT Kenny Wiggins and DT Sean Lissemore. Cam Thomas is expected to start for Lissemore.

THREE KEYS FOR TODAY

Which Andy shows up? During the five December games, Dalton completed 63 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns, five interceptions and a passer rating of 97.2. That’s markedly different from his two postseason games, where he hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass, has four interceptions and a rating of 48.6. Dalton has made better decisions with the ball this season, especially in the past five games, but he did throw a career high four picks last week against Baltimore. He can’t take reckless chances today.

Yards after catch: The Chargers are ranked second in the AFC in YAC (2,301 yards). Antonio Gates leads tight ends at 410 yards while Danny Woodhead is fourth among running backs (494) and Keenan Allen sixth among receivers (438). In the first meeting, the Bengals held the Chargers to 123 yards, which was among their lowest totals of the year. Gates played his worst game of the year with two turnovers. The Bengals are third in YAC with 2,166 yards. Giovani Bernard is second among AFC backs at 536.

Ground control: The Bengals posted their second highest run total of the season in the Week 13 win over San Diego. One of their best drives of the season was the drive that ran out the clock with eight straight runs for 59 yards. The Chargers are ranked 12th in the league in run defense and have allowed only two backs to go over 100 yards this season. On the opposite side, the Bengals have allowed only two 100-yard backs this season but struggled against Ryan Matthews in the first half.