Cincinnati Bengals players and Marvin Lewis' coaching staff did the best they could to maximize their ceiling with Andy Dalton as their franchise quarterback. Notice how I didn't say "the front office" or "ownership" maximized those teams' chances to win as much as possible.
All things considered, Dalton was a serviceable, if not superb, QB for eight or so years until the bottom fell out in his ninth season. Some untimely injuries, and again, cheap roster-building tactics are for sure to blame for the Bengals' shortcomings in those years.
Thanks in part to Dalton's decline, Cincinnati got in position to draft Joe Burrow first overall in the 2020 draft.