Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor knew his club needed to be aggressive Thursday night in Baltimore. The coach came out in the first quarter going for it on fourth down and stuck with the plan. He elected to go for two points, and the lead, after a late touchdown instead of a game-tying extra point.
The calculation was right, but Joe Burrow's toss to Tanner Hudson flew wide, and the Bengals fell, 35-34. Taylor didn't second-guess his choice.
"We came here to win," he said, via the team's official website. "We had our opportunity. We got down there, went for two, and it just didn't work out for us. This team is going to continue to put us in good positions, there's going to be a point in the season where that turns. We will respond the right way from this game."
A back-and-forth explosive tussle saw the Ravens erase a 21-7 third-quarter lead in a blink. Cincinnati's defense allowed Lamar Jackson to carve it up like a Thanksgiving bird. Baltimore scored touchdowns on its final four possessions. The inability to get a stop colored Taylor's decision to go for two. Instead of allowing a potential overtime coin flip to determine his team's fate, Taylor left the ball in Burrow's hand.
Taylor said he knew before the touchdown to pull within one point that he'd elect to try and take the lead.
"Yes. There is a time situation where, I can't get into specifics, but there is a chance maybe you get a three-and-out, get the ball back if you just tied it, and you go kick a game-winning field goal," he said. "It didn't feel like we were going to get the ball again."
There was no argument from the stars.
"We knew what situation we were in," Burrow said of going for two.
"Hell yeah. I agree with it 100 percent," Ja'Marr Chase added.
The star wideout had a ridiculous night, generating 11 catches for 264 yards and three touchdowns. He became the first player to have multiple games with 250-plus receiving yards and 2-plus receiving TDs in NFL history. Twice, the Bengals had one-play drives in which Burrow hit Chase for an explosive play. First came a 67-yard catch and run, then a 70-yard bomb.
However, Burrow didn't target Chase on the final two-point play.
Asked if he was open on the two-pointer, the wideout responded: "Yeah, I'm always open."
Earlier in the game, Burrow took a deep shot instead of hitting Chase, who appeared to be coming open, on a fourth-and-2. Those were tough spots not to target the star receiver, but the Bengals trust their star QB's decision making.
"There's always a progression to it," Taylor said when asked about the two-point play not going to Chase. "Most of our stuff is geared to go to Ja'Marr Chase. Again, the progression starts, and he was in that progression. I'd say (Burrow) makes pretty good decisions. I trust we went there, but we've got to watch the tapes to see what happened."
The two-point play also had potential penalties that went uncalled, including Burrow getting contacted in the facemask. For his part, the QB didn't complain about not getting flags.
"You're not getting that call in that situation, for the most part," he said. "I've never really gotten those calls. You don't expect to get those."
Taylor tipped his hand on the game's first drive, going for it on fourth down instead of taking a chip-shot field goal. The Bengals got the flag on that play, extending the drive and scoring a TD. The sprint was on. Taylor's squad went 2-of-4 on fourth downs in the game.
After the Week 5 shootout loss to the Ravens, Cincy knew it needed to be aggressive to beat Baltimore. The Bengals offense played well enough, but Jackson, the MVP front-runner, made a few more plays.
"Yeah, it's a tough pill to swallow," Burrow said. "You feel like you are playing well enough to win, and you're not. That's frustrating."
The Bengals lost despite leading by 14-plus points, their second such loss under Taylor -- prior to Week 10, they were 28-1 when leading by 14-plus points in a game.
"We lost the turnover battle 1-0. I think that was big, you know, it was 21-7 at that point when we gave them seven points right there on the fumble, they had the big play, and then it kind of went back-and-forth from there," he said. "[The Ravens] are just a good football team, but we expected to come in here and win. We did everything we could to do that. [The loss] doesn't change the fact that I'm proud. I think everyone on the field fought [and] gave us a chance. We also came on the road to a good team, and it is sickening that this has happened twice to us. That's what it is."
At 4-6, the Bengals sit in ninth in the AFC ahead of this weekend's games. The race for a playoff spot isn't over, but it's getting dark late in Cincinnati.
