For Andy Dalton, a chance he didn’t plan for went better than he could have expected

But with that came the lightness of a win, a relief that they hadn’t enjoyed in some time (their last victory was Dec. 17, 2023 against the Falcons).

Players talked about the happiness that came with complementary football and how Dalton and the offense’s early juice lifted the entire team.

“I thought our guys came out with the right attitude, the right mentality from the start and we never slowed down,” Dalton said. “And that was the fun part about it is we didn’t just put one drive together, we were able to do it the whole game, play complementary football, and guys were having a ton of fun, and that’s how it should be.”

Fun has been in short supply on those long rides home (the last road win was in the 2022 season finale in New Orleans, and there were two coaching changes since then). And as much as they enjoyed it, there was also a recognition that there were no promises this season.

This was one good day. It was one a lot of people needed.

“I mean, it shows what we can do,” Dalton said. “And I think that’s for us, it’s like, all right, we showed what our standard is now, we know what we can do and the goal is to be able to prove that each week.

“And for us, this was a big win, first one of the year and now it’s like, OK, let’s go. We know the possibilities out there. We’ve got to go play to that standard.”