The Bengals have found a scapegoat for their 0-8 season, and it's quarterback Andy Dalton. After several years of bringing regular-season success and stability to the franchise, his time as Cincinnati's starter has ended after 8 1/2 seasons.

At 32 and leading a bad team headed for a massive rebuild, Dalton entered 2019 with a good chance it would be his final fate. But for what he has given Bengals over the years, he deserved a lot better than this.

It was bad enough that Dalton learned the news of his benching on his 32nd birthday. It got worse when Dalton expressed frustration Wednesday about rookie coach Zac Taylor's decision to go with rookie fourth-round pick Ryan Finley. Dalton told reporters he didn't agree with Taylor's move, and he wished he had more than three hours notice so his agent could have pursued a trade before Tuesday's deadline.

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Taylor is trying to do something to light a fire in his winless, listless group, but Dalton's benching makes it feel like QB was the team's biggest problem. It was not.

Dalton is not the guy responsible for the team's league-worst run defense, pitiful offensive line play or anemic rushing attack. He was doing his best to keep his team competitive in a one-dimensional offense while constantly trailing in games without go-to wide receiver A.J. Green.

Because of this, Dalton was leading the NFL in passing attempts (338) and completions (204) while also getting sacked a league-high 29 times. He did have considerable cons against him, as his 6.7 yards per attempt and 79.2 passer rating are among the worst in the league after eight games.

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No one will confuse Dalton with an elite QB, but when the Bengals took him in the second round in 2011, he stepped in right away as a solid starter to help turn around a 4-12 team and get it to the playoffs.

Dalton ever since has been an outstanding face of the franchise, and his charity work in Cincinnati has been off the charts. He has made three Pro Bowls, and the Bengals reached the playoffs in five consecutive seasons to start his career.

Dalton has always been a "dependent" quarterback in the good-but-not-great range. That is, when the systems around him are operating well, he plays his best. When there's a breakdown, he can crumble. At the same time, he has been dependable and consistent with a decently high floor despite a rather low ceiling. Before the 2018 season, when he landed on IR with a thumb injury, he also had been mostly durable.

Dalton is not Boomer Esiason or Ken Anderson, but he also is not close to David Klingler or Akili Smith. In many ways, even without any playoff success in relation to two anomalous Super Bowl runs, Dalton was the Eli Manning of the Bengals, only now with less respect from his only organization.

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When the Giants drafted Daniel Jones to be Manning's successor, everything was set up for a smooth transition. Manning was given the utmost respect for what he did without being dissed for what he no longer can do.

What the Bengals did with Dalton was a blindside. It was almost as if everything decent Dalton did for the franchise was buried. Turning to Finley might end up being fortuitous, much like what the Jaguars are getting from Gardner Minshew by necessity. But that doesn't mean the Bengals can be excused for bungling their handling of a veteran QB who gave them all he had.

Instead of having a chance to help another team in 2019, Dalton is now stuck playing out the string as a demoted backup. You can bet, however, that Dalton will end up being a willing mentor to Finley, because that's in line with his being a class act.

Dalton restored form and function for a franchise that desperately needed it. Now that his run is over, the Bengals have gone back to showing their true dysfunctional stripes.