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Ben Baby, ESPN writer
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Standing in front of his locker with his arms crossed, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase didn’t have an answer for why the team can’t finish games.
Once again this season, Cincinnati saw a potential victory slip away in a 34-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night. Six of Cincinnati’s seven losses have been one-possession losses. While Chase was lacking solutions, he did have a potential starting point: just ask coach Zac Taylor.
“I play soccer on the field,” Chase said. “I don’t call plays for us, you know? So I can’t really do anything.”
The Bengals have a .143 winning percentage in one-score games. According to ESPN Research, that ties the Jacksonville Jaguars for the worst record in the league in this type of competition.
Cincinnati (4-7) was nearly defeated after the Chargers (7-3) got off to a bright start. Los Angeles led 27-6 with 10:29 left in the third quarter.
That’s when the Bengals staged a demonstration. Cincinnati scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives to tie the game. Two of them were fourth-down throws by quarterback Joe Burrow.
But two missed field goals by kicker Evan McPherson paved the way for Chargers running back JK Dobbins’ winning touchdown run with 18 seconds left. Had the Bengals won, it would have tied the greatest comeback in franchise history.
Chase, who came into the game leading the NFL in receiving yards, had seven receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns.
But those statistics seemed hollow in what is becoming a familiar scenario. Chase is averaging 114.4 receiving yards per game and has 10 total touchdowns in Bengals losses this season.
“It doesn’t really matter how well I perform at the end of the day,” Chase said. “Doing all those numbers and losing is not good.”
Burrow completed 28 of 50 passes for 356 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He regretted two missed shots in the fourth quarter against Chase and what he confirmed is becoming the most frustrating season of his career.
“I just have to make the plays,” Burrow said. “And we haven’t done it down the stretch. We’re not a good enough team to… our margin for error is small. So we’ve got to make those plays. I’ve got to make those plays. We all have to make those plays. “. play.”
In the past, Cincinnati’s ability to close out games resulted in two of the most successful seasons in franchise history. In 2021, the Bengals reached the Super Bowl but lost to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, site of Sunday’s loss to the Chargers. The following season, Cincinnati lost to Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game in a rematch of the previous year.
Taylor said no major changes are necessary as Cincinnati enters its bye week because of the narrow margins of defeat. But Taylor has found it difficult to reconcile.
“It’s disgusting the way these games end and the way we feel walking off the field every week,” Taylor said. “The feeling I had when I spoke to the team in the locker room after all these finals this year.”
And in the locker room late, Chase was among those looking for a solution to a Bengals season on the verge of missing a second straight postseason.
“I don’t know why we didn’t finish,” Chase said. “I don’t know what we’re not doing to have an advantage to finish.”
