Perhaps 4-6 is as good as it gets. Burrow still holds onto the belief there is more.
The Bengals will have an extra few days to process and recover during a “mini bye” this weekend before beginning preparations for the Nov. 17 road game against the L.A. Chargers.
“Look at how we are playing, and then you look at Trey Hendrickson and how he is playing, yeah, it’s a tough pill to swallow,” Burrow said in his postgame press conference Thursday night. “We had our opportunities, obviously. We know it’s tough, and you feel like you’re playing well enough to win, and you’re not. But there’s always more to do.”
Burrow threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase recorded 264 yards and three touchdowns and is almost to 1,000 yards this season in just 10 games, and although Hendrickson didn’t record a sack Thursday, he leads the league in that stat and was coming off a four-sack performance last week.
The three standout players are the reason Cincinnati has been close in five of its six losses, all decided by six points or less. Finishing has been the biggest obstacle. The Bengals were up by 14 points in the third quarter Thursday, they let go of a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter in the first matchup with the Ravens (an overtime loss) and they lost on a last-second field goal at Kansas City.
“I don’t think we had a lack of killer instinct,” Chase said in his postgame press conference. “I just don’t think we’re finishing the right way.”
“We’ve had some tough losses this year [and] some close games. I don’t know. I think we’ve just got to find a way to finish. Every loss we’ve had, we didn’t finish, so we’ve just got to find some way to finish.”
In the past, it seemed Burrow could always find a way somehow. He’s always played his best when the pressure is on and in the biggest games. Crucial mistakes at the end of games, sometimes when he was at fault and other times because of a penalty or turnover by someone else, have marred those opportunities this season.
Taylor reminds his team that it’s not over yet.
“I think over the years we have won some of these games and so this year just hasn’t gone our way,” Taylor said Friday. “There’s still opportunity left. I think this team knows we’re in that thick of it at the end and come up a play short a couple times, which is disappointing and frustrating, but that doesn’t define what we are and what our season’s going to be. We’re going to have more opportunity and I feel like we’re going to, we’ve got the right guys to take advantage of that opportunity when comes at us next.”
Burrow still feels the Bengals are better than their record, but the reality is they have to prove it in the standings and right now it’s “an uphill battle to get back into this thing,” he said.
The coaching staff has an opportunity with 10 days between games now to figure out what needs changed. After this next game, the Bengals have a bye, as well, and then it’s full steam ahead to the end of the season and what they still hope will be a playoff berth.
“We get a chance to just reevaluate where we’re at,” Taylor said of the break this weekend. “It’s a one-game season going forward. I always say that. We get the bye right after it, so of course we always, as you hear me in here, just talk about the next game. But this is truly a chance. Get refreshed. It’s been a long year of 10 games. Grind it through it. Short week takes a real toll on you, especially a road game. … So again, just everyone get their minds right this weekend and there’s still plenty of work to do and get ahead on the Chargers. They play the Titans this weekend so we get a chance to watch that game and make sure we’re putting our best foot forward starting on Monday.”
NEXT GAME
Sunday, Nov. 17
Bengals at Chargers, 8:20 p.m., NBC, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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