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    Coley Harvey, ESPN Staff Writer

CINCINNATI -- A day has passed and many of you are still asking the same question.

Why in the world did Andy Dalton decide to pass to A.J. Green late Sunday night when there was still time for his Cincinnati Bengals to run the football, pick up a first down and work down the game clock?

It's a valid concern.

"We don't get to go back and hindsight it," Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said Monday. "It's easy to sit here after the fact and say, 'If we did this or did that.'"

With a little more than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter and his team down three, Dalton brought Cincinnati's offense to the line of scrimmage for a key third-and-2 from Arizona's 25.

Many watching at home felt there was enough time on the clock for the Bengals to hand off the ball to running back Giovani Bernard to collect a quick first down to keep the clock moving. Bernard was, after all, one of four ball carriers to contribute to the Bengals' 99-yard rushing output throughout the game. And the Cardinals were out of timeouts with about a minute left.

"What if we didn't make it?" offensive coordinator Hue Jackson asked. "You're going to have to kick it anyway. But maybe the clock would've kept running. I can see the logic in that. I do get that, and I respect that."

So did Dalton.

"You can think of it that way, or you can think you're trying to win the game," Dalton said. "Yeah, you don't want to leave time on the clock, but you also want to try and win and we had a chance."

It appeared Jackson and Dalton thought briefly about doing what most fans were requesting and handing the ball off.

But as Dalton settled into shotgun, he made some kind of audible intended for Green's eyes and ears only, letting the receiver know that he wanted him to take off on a go route and fly past Justin Bethel, the 6-foot tall backup corner who had just checked in a few plays before for the injured Patrick Peterson.

"Oh my God, we have our best player and -- their best corner was on the sideline," Jackson said. "So you've got your best player out on the field and the safety is standing in the middle of the field, you've got to take that shot. Game over."

At the moment Dalton faked a mesh handoff on a play action with Giovani Bernard, Green broke free from Bethel. When Dalton let go of the pass, he hung it short near the goal line, where Bethel made contact with the ball before it ricocheted into Green's hands. As he secured the ball, Green tried to keep his feet in bounds by dragging them in the turf and knocking down the pylon.

The play didn't get reviewed and was declared an incomplete pass.

All Dalton had to do was throw his pass another six or seven yards in a spot where only his 6-foot-4 Pro Bowl receiver could catch it without having to finesse the sideline and the defender.

"You can look back on it, but our quarterback does a nice job of making decisions and we have a lot of confidence in our players to be able to handle that situation," Lewis said. "We just would like to have a better outcome next time."

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