After a quiet first half, the Cincinnati Bengals‘ offense woke up in the second half Sunday night against the Chargers. Down 27-6 early in the third quarter, Cincinnati rallied to tie the game 27-27 in the fourth. But special teams miscues and the Achilles heel that is the Bengals’ defense reared their ugly heads at the worst time when the Chargers scored with 18 seconds left to score a 34-27 win.
That marked Cincinnati’s fifth loss this season when they score at least 25 points. That is tied for the most in the NFL history, a feat only two other teams had accomplished — the 2018 Buccaneers and the 2020 Jaguars. There are still six games left for the Bengals, who enter their bye week this week.
The Buccaneers finished 5-11 while the Jaguars endured a nightmare 1-15 season, the season that landed them Trevor Lawrence in the following draft…but also led to the bigger nightmare season that was the Urban Meyer era.
The Bengals are now 4-7 entering their bye week. Their remaining schedule is as such: vs. Pittsburgh, at Dallas, at Tennessee, vs. Cleveland, vs. Denver, at Pittsburgh.
Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase can only do so much. One can only wonder where this team would stand if the defense didn’t completely fall apart. As it stands, they are now two games back in the Wild Card race. The Broncos hold the last spot at 6-5. Losing yet another heartbreaker dealt a major blow to their playoff hopes. And the offense is far from the ones to blame.
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