CINCINNATI -- Even if the Cincinnati Bengals had made it to Super Bowl 50, there's a good chance they would not have had their starting quarterback.

Andy Dalton told ESPN on Wednesday that he still hasn't thrown a football since breaking the thumb on his throwing hand in the first quarter of the Bengals' Dec. 13 loss to the Steelers. It was while attempting to tackle Pittsburgh defensive end Stephon Tuitt following an interception that Dalton hurt his right thumb. The injury didn't require surgery, but Dalton had a cast on his thumb immediately and received regular treatments in order to try to return before the season ended.

He was still nursing the injury when the Bengals lost to the Steelers in last month's wild-card playoff game.

"Not throwing yet but will soon," Dalton said. "Just being conservative with my hand and waiting for it to be officially 100 percent before I start up."

Dalton confirmed that he will spend part of the offseason with throwing coaches Tom House and Adam Dedeaux, the California-based instructors who have worked with him on his mechanics the past two offseasons. Dalton said he will visit the pair in mid-March. By then he believes his hand will be healed enough that he can resume throwing.

The thumb injury derailed what had been a possible MVP year for the fifth-year man. Dalton threw for 3,250 yards, with 25 touchdowns and only seven interceptions, in 13 starts.

Earlier Wednesday, a series of Dalton's tweets went viral when he created the hashtag #bagsearch2016 in an effort to convince Twitter users to help him find two suitcases he thinks fell off the back of his truck on a highway in Texas.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Dalton said the bags had not yet been recovered, but he was hopeful they would be.