The Bengals are running out of time to salvage the season and find the finishing touches

by Junna Base November 8, 2024

BALTIMORE – Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tanner Hudson banged his head twice – not violently, but desperately, in the frustrated way – on the metal cage that served as his locker in the visiting team’s locker room at M&T Bank Stadium.

No better image could capture how he and his teammates felt after another blowout loss, one that makes the team’s quest to reach the postseason even more of a “climb,” as Joe Burrow put it.

“Yes,” the Cincinnati quarterback said of the 2024 season, “it was frustrating.”

The Bengals were just 2 yards away from a clean sheet, a 5-5 record and another step up the crowded AFC playoff standings with a real chance to defeat one of the league’s best teams, a division rival , on the street.

Instead, Burrow threw the ball up to Hudson with 42 seconds left, which would have been the starting signal for the two-point conversion. A night that began with aggression and ended with more of it ended with a 35-34 victory for the Baltimore Ravens on “Thursday Night Football.” In the process, the Bengals squandered a historic game from wideout Ja’Marr Chase, who torched the Ravens’ depleted secondary – which played without safety Kyle Hamilton in the second half – for 11 catches, 264 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Burrow completed 34 of 56 passes for 428 yards and four scores.

However, the defense was unable to build on the momentum of the first half, allowing Lamar Jackson and the Ravens to score four consecutive touchdowns to end a game in which Cincinnati had led 21-7 at one point. Running back Chase Brown’s fumble, which gave Baltimore a short-field lead of 21-14, was an example of the Bengals doing little favors for their teammates outside of Burrow and Chase.

Taylor had been aggressive all night as the Bengals started the game with a four-and-goal attempt from the Baltimore two-yard line. The referees whistled Ravens cornerback Brandon Stephens — one of 11 against Baltimore for 81 yards — for a defensive holding penalty, and Brown scored on the next play. Cincinnati tied the game 2-4 on fourth down, and the two misses came on Burrow’s deep shots to Jermaine Burton in single coverage; neither were particularly close to completion.

“We have to find a way to finish these games,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “We had our chance. We got there, went as a couple and it just didn’t work out.”

A deficit from 1:4 to 5:5 would mean that the Bengals’ dismal start to the season would be wiped out. Instead, they can’t forget it when they’re between 4 and 6.

“We have a good football team. Our file doesn’t show that yet. There is still time. This team will persevere. We’ll be there at the end,” Taylor said. “That’s a tough question because that’s where you’re at, and it felt like (you) kind of let that question pass.”

In three of their losses, the Bengals have proven that they can keep up with the class of the conference – the Kansas City Chiefs and the Ravens – and lost those matchups by a total of five points.

“It sucks losing to these guys,” Chase said.

He added: “I think we just have to find a way to achieve the goal. Every defeat we had, we didn’t finish.”

The 37-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on October 27th is the Bengals’ only loss of the season by more than six points.

“Look at our losses, outside of that game against Philly, they’re pretty much one-possession losses,” cornerback Mike Hilton said. “It’s definitely frustrating.”

Neither Bengals had any interest in using the lack of a penalty when tight end Mike Gesicki was mauled or Burrow’s helmet was touched on the two-point attempt as an excuse. Starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. was out again, as was wide receiver Tee Higgins. With Burrow and Chase, the Bengals have one of the league’s most explosive offenses – they scored twice on the first play of the drive, and Chase’s four touchdowns against Baltimore this year came from 41, 67, 70 and 70 yards.

“Elite. The best. There’s no other explanation,” Gesicki said. “They were incredible. It’s funny how No. 1 (Chase) is so wide open all the time. It’s crazy.”

Burrow took 13 hits – inevitable with that number of dropbacks – and was sacked three times by Nnamdi Madubuike.

The Bengals finished the third period 8:16 and entered the contest with the third-best percentage in the NFL (46.9%). Every time the Bengals and Ravens entered the red zone, they scored a touchdown.

The Bengals’ defense contained the rushing attack of Derrick Henry and the Ravens, but couldn’t make Jackson uncomfortable after he forced five punts on Baltimore’s first six drives of the game. Cam Taylor-Britt appeared to beat Jackson with about five minutes left, right after the Bengals tied the game at 28, but he couldn’t control the ball before it hit the ground. Cincinnati lost the turnover battle 1-0.

“We had a chance to finish it. We just didn’t do it. “Came back to bite us,” Hilton said. “One of those tough defeats.

“In those critical moments, we had to find a way to score a turnover or leave the field.”

Since Burrow’s arrival in 2020, the Bengals have been a team that typically wins the close games in their current years (essentially when Burrow is healthy). Now Burrow wonders if those previous teams had an intangible quality that doesn’t exist in this group.

“In recent years we have taken advantage of the opportunities,” he said. “This year we didn’t do that. The boys just have to keep going to finish these games. And we don’t have that.”

The next time the Bengals play in prime time is next Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. They have a bye in Week 12 and finish the season with the Pittsburgh Steelers (twice), Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos on the schedule.

Taylor insisted his team was better than 4-6 and every player agreed with him. They also know that their record means something at this point in the season.

“I think your record is what your record is and you are what your record is,” Burrow said. “So right now we’re a 4-6 football team. It’s definitely going to be an uphill battle getting back into this thing. I like the guys we have in the locker room. I like the coaches we have.”

What’s particularly problematic for the Bengals is that Chase and Burrow are playing at this level and still have a sub-.500 winning percentage.

“Yeah, it’s crazy to say that,” Chase said. “I would never in a million years expect me to play this well and (Burrow) play this well and still have a record like this.”

That’s the kind of one-in-a-million season the Bengals wanted to avoid in 2024. But it is the reality they will have to deal with over the next ten days.

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