Confounded Bengals facing reality that Burrow-Chase connection not enough

NFL teams this season are now 37-3 when scoring 34-or-more points. The Bengals have two of those three losses, and both have come at the hands of the Ravens. Despite a gargantuan effort from Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase in Cincinnati’s 35-34 setback on Thursday night at Baltimore, the Bengals (4-6) are still two games under .500. It’s not easy to comprehend, especially for their two superstars.

“It’s crazy to say that,” Chase told beat writer Ben Baby. “I would never, in a million years, expect me to play this well and he play this well and we still have a record like this.”

Playing well might be the understatement of the season. Chase finished with 11 receptions for 264 yards and three touchdowns. His last catch was a gorgeous toss from Burrow over two defenders for a 5-yard touchdown in the final minute that Baltimore’s lead to 35-34. And after watching Todd Bowles’ decision three days earlier and seeing Lamar Jackson and the Ravens compile 231 of their 389 total yards in the fourth quarter, Zac Taylor didn’t hesitate in going for two.

“We came here to win,” said the Bengals head coach, whose aggressiveness nearly paid off.

Still, Cincinnati looks in the mirror Friday morning realizing it held a 21-7 lead – Lamar Jackson’s largest deficit in three years — with just over 19 minutes remaining. Baltimore’s comeback started when cornerback Marlon Humphrey stripped Chase Brown, and Roquan Smith recovered at the Bengals’ 31-yard line. After the game, Richard Skinner from WKRC summarized the team’s confounding situation.

“I think it shows you, and we’ve talked about this a lot, at the end of the day just how many holes there are in this football team,” Skinner said Thursday night on the Jungle Roar Skinny podcast with co-host Mike Petraglia. “And two superstars, the Bengals can overcome it some; they can certainly overcome it against the lesser teams. Last week, it was Trey Hendrickson putting on his cape, and Joe Burrow putting on his cape. Today, it was Joe and Ja’Marr Chase. Against the good teams, it’s not enough.”

Burrow’s 428 passing yards and four touchdowns weren’t enough against the Ravens (7-3). Neither was Chase’s 457 receiving yards in two games against Baltimore (14 teams don’t even have a player with 457 receiving yards over the entire season, per Josh Dubow).

Although confounded, Cincinnati certainly isn’t out of the playoff race. Two losses to Baltimore might be insurmountable but the Bengals could still make that race interesting by winning their two games against the Steelers, especially if the Ravens can knock Pittsburgh (6-2) off its AFC North perch. Plus, six of the Bengals’ final seven games are against AFC foes, an opportunity to improve the all-important conference record with respect to potential playoff tiebreakers.

Regardless, Cincinnati needs to regroup after its long weekend. The Bengals travel to Los Angeles for a Sunday night matchup with the Chargers (5-3) in Week 11.

For more information on the Bengals, visit the Cincinnati team page at ProFootballPost.com.