No Bengal, including WR Marvin Jones, has caught a pass longer than 21 yards the past five weeks. (AP Images)

Houston's biggest weakness in the past four games, which has included three losses, has been giving up long passing plays.

Colts WRT.Y. Hilton caught a 70-yard touchdown pass to put the Texans away last week and had a 61-yard score in Week 15. 

In all, Houston allowed four touchdown passes of at least 37 yards in the past four weeks. 

But can the Bengals capitalize? Nothing during the last month of the season infers they can.

The Bengals receivers only have one reception of longer than 23 yards in the past five games. 

“We've left a lot of plays out there on the field,” offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said. “We miss a throw there, we drop a pass there, we miss a block here, whatever. You add all those up, if everybody has one time where they screw up, it's a lot. It's kind of been that way throughout.”

The Bengals enter the playoffs ranked 22nd in the NFL in total offense, lowest among the 12 playoff teams. The defense ranks first among playoff teams over the second half of the season. But whether Andy Dalton can convert more plays down the field will ultimately decide how far the Bengals advance.

Teams see the Bengals' problems converting down the field and force them to make plays over the top. Pittsburgh consistently covered the box with eight and nine players, leaving open on the back end of the defense.

Dalton couldn't connect.

“We've been seeing a lot of teams taking chances,” OL Andrew Whitworth said. “Bringing a lot of heat and playing a lot of one-on-one coverage. We got to beat one-on-ones as teams are getting a lot more aggressive.”

That means No. 2 WR Marvin Jones needs to display the skills that served as his signature at Cal and in the preseason with Cincinnati. He made his name as a deep threat and while he's done a nice job at the intermediate routes, his longest reception of the season is 23 yards.

“It will come,” Jones said. “Something I love to do is go vertical and go and get the ball. That's what I like to do so I would like that to happen and we should have the opportunity to do so.”

Gruden pointed out Jones, who only moved into the starting lineup five weeks ago, needs to polish rough edges of his game. He's not alone, in Gruden's eyes, everyone from the coordinators to the players on the bottom of the roster need to be better on his struggling group.

The offense hasn't topped 275 total yards in any of the past three weeks --- three of their four lowest totals of the year.

Despite the negative trend, Gruden doesn't see a team far off from adding explosion.

“They are a very confident group,” Gruden said. “When you watch our tape, you see that there are plays we had out there. We're just not making them … but we have shown flashes of being very good and very dangerous and we just have to get to that point where we know that on every play we can make big plays.”

Follow Paul Dehner Jr. for Bengals updates on Twitter @CBSBengals.