Bengals Quick Hits: Botched In Baltimore, Bengals Blow Chance For Division Lead with 19-17 Loss to Ravens

BALTIMORE — In the end, the Bengals suffered another gut-punch loss of the season.

Justin Tucker’s 43-yard field goal as time expired gave Cincinnati its third walkoff loss of the season, 19-17, before 70,548 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Joe Burrow’s quarterback sneak with 1:58 left in the fourth quarter gave Cincinnati it’s first lead of the game, 17-16, capping a 13-play, 70-yard drive that silenced the M&T Bank Stadium crowd.

Second-guessers will have a field day over Cincinnati’s last possession of the third quarter. Those second-guessers will argue the Bengals got too cute Sunday night and blew their chance at sole possession of first place in the AFC North.

Facing first-and-goal on the Baltimore 2 after a pass interference call that kept Hayden Hurst from catching the ball in the end zone, Joe Burrow couldn’t find Hurst and threw incomplete. On second down, the Bengals ran a reverse in which Tyler Boyd was blown up by Marcus Peters before he could complete a pass to the end zone on second down. On third down, Burrow completed a pass to Ja’Marr Chase down to the two.

On fourth down, Burrow ran a shovel pass in the middle of a congested offense line that fell incomplete, intended apparently for Stanley Morgan.

Frustration boiled over on the sideline as head coach Zac Taylor tried to chase down left tackle La’el Collins on an apparent missed block on the fourth down play.

Tee Higgins did not play after the first two offensive series of the game, missing the last three quarters with an injured left ankle.

As was the case with the Steelers and Cowboys in the first two weeks, the Bengals offensive line looked discombobulated to open the game. The Bengals first four drives ended in punts. Making matters worse, two of those Kevin Huber boots were underwhelming, traveling just 28 and 34 yards.

The 34-yarder put the Ravens at midfield. Lamar Jackson took advantage and directed a seven-play drive that ended with an 11-yard Lamar Jackson pass to a wide open Mark Andrews to extend Baltimore’s lead to 10-0.

The Ravens defense was taking advantage of a leaky Bengals offensive line, with Josh Bynes and Jason Pierre-Paul broke through with sacks. Two other times Burrow had passes batted down and several other times he was rushed.

With the Bengals staggering after their fourth punt, the defense made the play of the first half when Vonn Bell picked off Jackson on a sideline route at the Bengals 17.

That triggered an 83-yard Bengals drive without Higgins, who played the first two drives but sat out the remainder of the first half. Stepping up was Mike Thomas with a 33-yard catch-and-run down to the Ravens 31. Three plays later, Burrow hit Hayden Hurst over the middle for 19 yards, he cut at the Ravens 3 and reached the ball over the goal line to put Cincinnati on the board.

The Bengals then forced a punt and the Bengals put together a solid drive before the half, ending in a 40-yard Evan McPherson field goal that tied the game 10-10 with four seconds left in the half.

The Bengals held the Ravens to open the third quarter when Lamar Jackson overthrew a wide open Tylan Wallace on fourth-and-2 from the Cincinnati 41.

But Joe Burrow gave the ball right back on the next play, throwing over the middle to former LSU teammate and Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen.

The Ravens didn’t do much with the possession but did drive six yards and settled for the go-ahead 58-yard field goal from Justin Tucker and a 13-10 lead.

The Bengals responded with a 15-play, 73-yard drive that ended with the failed trickery in the low red zone.

The Ravens answered with a 15-play drive of 90 yards, starting at their 2-yard line. The drive consumed over eight minutes and ended with a 25-yard field goal that put Baltimore up, 16-10.