INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Standing at his locker with his arms folded, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase didn’t have an answer for why the team can’t finish games.
For yet another time this season, Cincinnati saw a potential win 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 defeats. While Chase was lacking for solutions, he did have a potential starting point — ask coach Zac Taylor.
“I play football on the field,” Chase said. “I don’t call plays for us, you know? So I can’t really do nothing.”
The Bengals have a .143 winning percentage in one-score games. According to ESPN Research, that matches the Jacksonville Jaguars for the worst mark in the league in such contests.
Cincinnati (4-7) was on the brink of getting blown out after the Chargers (7-3) had a blazing start. Los Angeles led 27-6 with 10:29 left in the third quarter.
That’s when the Bengals mounted a rally. Cincinnati scored touchdowns on three straight drives to tie the game. Two of them were on fourth-down throws by quarterback Joe Burrow.
But two missed field goals by kicker Evan McPherson paved the way for Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins’ winning touchdown run with 18 seconds remaining. Had the Bengals won, it would have matched the biggest comeback in franchise history.
Chase, who came into the game leading the NFL in receiving yards, had seven catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns.
But those stats 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 don’t really matter how good I perform at the end of the day,” Chase said. “Putting up all them numbers and losing is not good.”
Burrow was 28-of-50 passing for 356 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He lamented two missed fourth-quarter throws to Chase and what he confirmed is turning into the most frustrating season of his career.
“Just got to make the plays,” Burrow said. “And we haven’t down the stretch. We’re not a good enough team to … our margin of error is slim. So we got to make those plays. I got to make those plays. We all got to make those plays.”
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 made the Super Bowl but lost to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, the site of Sunday’s loss to the Chargers. The following season, Cincinnati lost to Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game in a rematch from the previous year.
Taylor said that no wholesale changes need to be made as Cincinnati enters its bye week because of all the narrow margins of defeat. But it has been hard for Taylor to reconcile.
“This is sick the way that these games are ending and the way that we feel coming off the field every week,” Taylor said. “The feeling I got when I got to talk to the team in the locker room after all these endings this year.”
And in the locker room late, Chase was among those grasping for a solution for a Bengals season that is careening toward missing a second straight playoffs.
“I don’t know why we’re not finishing,” Chase said. “I don’t know what we’re not doing to give ourselves an advantage to finish.”
