Cincinnati Bengals get blown out by New York Jets

For all those who wanted the Bengals not to put up much of a fight in their regular-season finale in order to get a playoff rematch against the Jets, you got your wish. But no one could've possibly imagined it would be as bad as this.

In one of the ugliest performances in recent memory, the Bengals got thoroughly outplayed as the Jets closed the Meadowlands with a 37-0 shellacking of the AFC North champions.

With the wrecking ball hitting the Meadowlands in February, the Bengals finish 0 for 11 here.

"Not the outcome we wanted. We get a chance to regroup and get going again next Saturday afternoon and that's about the size of it," coach Marvin Lewis said. "We didn't want to lose the game. We had something to play for tonight and didn't get it done."

If there is any gleam of good news it's that the two teams will face each other again on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Paul Brown Stadium in a Wild Card round game.

The bad news, and there was plenty, is that the Bengals (10-6) have a short week to prepare and are stumbling into the playoffs with losses in three of their last four games.

"We came out and got flat out beat in every phase," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "It wasn't one thing but a number of things. We definitely stumbled today but we have done a good job of bouncing back."

Lewis added: "You don't get a chance to do this much in the National Football League and I guess we're blessed to have this opportunity coming next week."

With Houston's win over New England earlier in the day the Bengals had a shot of grabbing the third seed, but with Marvin Lewis electing to rest Cedric Benson and three defensive starters (Robert Geathers, Domata Peko and Chris Crocker), Lewis ceded more on the side of caution than going all out.

The Bengals though still couldn't escape injuries. Defensive tackle Pat Sims broke his right forearm and is finished for the year while Chad Ochocinco bruised his left knee during warm-ups. He said he will have a precautionary MRI today.

New York (9-7) scored on six of their first seven drives and cruised.

How bad was it? For starters, it was the first time the Bengals have been shut out since Dec. 23, 2001, when Baltimore posted a 16-0 victory. Both coaches from Sunday's game also had a hand in that. Lewis was the defensive coordinator for the Ravens in that game and Rex Ryan was the defensive line coach.

The offense set a franchise record for least net yards gained with 72, breaking the record of 83 set in 1971 at Houston. They were 1 of 11 on third downs and didn't convert their only one until 7 minutes, 53 seconds remained in the game. In the first half their seven net yards and time of possession of 5:10 were NFL lows for this season.