CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals are scoring plenty of points but squandered one opportunity after another to beat the Baltimore Ravens.
A victory in Sunday's wild game would have been their second straight and given them an early advantage in the AFC North. Instead, the Bengals (1-4) were done in again by Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and left to ponder a season that might be slipping away.
Cincinnati fans were already celebrating when Evan McPherson — known as “Money Mac” for his accuracy — trotted onto the field to try a 53-yard field goal that would have won the game in overtime. But a mishandled snap by holder Ryan Rehkow contributed to McPherson missing the kick wide left.
The Ravens took over and on the next play, and Derrick Henry, who'd been mostly contained by the Bengals, rumbled 51 yards to the Cincinnati 6-yard-line to set up a 24-yard game-winning field goal for Justin Tucker.
Tucker had kicked a 56-yarder to tie the game in regulation after Burrow threw his only interception of the day. The Bengals then went three-and-out to send the game into overtime.
It was heartbreaker for Burrow, who threw for 392 yards and a career-high five touchdowns, and for a defense that thought it had contained the elusive Jackson just enough.
“I’m sick to my stomach for our guys in there," Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said. “They fought. I’m proud of them, but we’ve got to find a way to win. We can’t keep coming up one play short, and that’s really what the game came down to.”
Burrow was direct about the prospects of saving the Bengals' season.
“We’re not a championship-level team right now,” he said. "I’d like to think we’ll come back and improve throughout the season to get to that point, but right now, we are not."
“Something has to change,” he said. “I’m not sure what that is on our end, but we’ll do some critical thinking, watch the tape, and see what we can do better.”
Cincinnati scored 30 points for the third straight game. Burrow went 30 for 39, rallied the Bengals from a first-half deficit and engineered drives that put them up by 10 points three times in the second half. He threw two touchdown passes apiece to receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
The defense just couldn't stop Jackson as he scrambled to make one big play after another. He threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns. In the fourth quarter with the Bengals leading 38-28, Jackson dropped and picked up the shotgun snap before scrambling and stiff-arming Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard and throwing a 6-yard TD pass to Isaiah Likely. ... The Bengals are still struggling to run the ball, with Chase Brown and Zack Moss combining for just 70 yards on the ground.
Chase had a season-high 10 catches for 193 yards. The prettiest was a screen pass that he turned into a 70-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Rehkow is a solid punter, pinning the Ravens inside their own 20 on four of five kicks Sunday. But he likely cost Cincinnati the game when, as the holder, he mishandled a clean snap on McPherson's attempt at the winning kick in overtime.
“I think I just tried to get it down a little too quick — give Evan enough time to look at it — and I just didn’t get it down cleanly,” Rehkow said.
CB Dax Hill tore his ACL in the first quarter, ending his season. “Heartbroken for him,” Taylor said. ... RT Amarius Mims was carted off with an ankle injury in the third quarter but returned.
116.3 — Burrow's quarterback rating through five games, the highest since 1950 by a QB whose team went 1-4 or worse. His 72.3% completion percentage is also the best in that dubious category.
The Bengals have to shake off the divisional loss and prepare for Sunday night's visit to the New York Giants (2-3), who are coming off a win at Seattle.
