The Cincinnati Bengals’ nightmare season continues after another heartbreaking loss, this time to the Los Angeles Chargers 34-27. Joe Burrow battled all game long and helped the orange and black erase an 18-point halftime deficit. QB1 was consistently under duress but hung tough, going 28-50 for 356 yards and three touchdown passes. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough, as the Bengals had multiple opportunities to close the game out on offense but couldn’t finish the job. This has been the story all season for Cincinnati and they fall to 4-7 with their playoff hopes on life support. The frustration for Burrow was palpable after the loss and the circumstances surrounding this team seem to be wearing on him.
Cincinnati Bengals Beat: Frustration Mounting for Joe Burrow
MVP Race
It’s a shame the Bengals are having such a poor season with how well Burrow is performing or he’d be in more conversations as the league’s MVP. He’s currently ranked first in yards (3028), touchdown passes (27), and QBR of (76.1). When Burrow is on, he’s simply one of the best, and it’s evident that Ja’Marr Chase and EDGE Trey Hendrickson are truly the only stable help Cincinnati’s signal caller can rely on.
Angry Tiger
The hallmark of Burrow throughout his career has been how calm and cool he is under pressure. He’s taken so many hits, yet, consistently bounces back up. This isn’t sustainable long-term and he needs some help from the front office to bolster this roster. Burrow can’t do it alone with the shortcomings of this team with virtually no margin for error as he stated after the game, “Just got to make the plays. Just got to make the plays. We have it down the stretch and 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.”
Closing Time
This frustration has hit a boiling point and head coach Zac Taylor has seemingly lost the locker room with the inability to close out games. He spoke about this in the postgame noting, It’s a team we believe in, a team that believes in each other. It’s sick. The way that these games are ending and the way that we come off the field every week. The feeling I got when I talked to the team in the locker room after all these endings this year. You know, what I just keep telling the team is, at some point, this has got to help us. At some point, we got to find some momentum and we got to get on a run. We’ve got to find ourselves in a good position where we reflect back. We don’t ever want to use a loss for good, but it’s got to help us in some way. We’ve played some really good football teams and we just got to find a way to finish it. I keep saying that and obviously, we’re a play away every time I say it, but I still got the confidence that we can get this thing done.”
The players do share culpability in this as the offense has had the opportunity in multiple contests to end the game on their terms. In 2021 and 2022, when the Bengals were firing on all cylinders, they’d always find that extra play to win the game which is a sign of a good team. This year’s version is the inverse of those squads, they simply are failing when the lights are brightest. Burrow has given this city and team everything over his five-year career, it’s time the coaching staff and ownership live up to their end of the bargain.
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