The Cincinnati Bengals had a great rally to come back from 21 points down to tie Sunday night’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers. It was impressive.
And ultimately meaningless.
The Bengals are in a lot of trouble after their comeback didn’t result in a win. Evan McPherson missed two fourth-quarter field goals, allowing the Chargers to reverse what would have been a massive collapse and win, 34-27, on Sunday night.
Justin Herbert hit two big passes to Ladd McConkey in the final minute to get the Chargers into field-goal range, before J.K. Dobbins took care of things himself by breaking a 29-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds left for the win.
The Bengals technically could still win a Super Bowl this season, but they’d probably need to win every game from now through early February to do it. Realistically, we saw the Bengals’ small playoff hopes disappear on Sunday night. The Bengals are 4-7 after the loss. The comeback from trailing 27-6 made for an entertaining game, but for the Bengals it was just another loss.
This defeat might mean the end of their playoff hopes. The Chargers can feel good about their own playoff chances after pulling out a win that they almost gave away. In previous years, the Chargers would have blown that type of game. It’s what they became known for. But Herbert rallied at just the right time and Dobbins closed the door to save an embarrassing loss.
Chargers dominate 1st half
The Chargers had a huge first half. Cincinnati kicked a field goal for a 3-0 lead but the rest of the first half belonged to the Chargers.
Herbert was fantastic in the first half, completing 10 of 14 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns. One went to Will Dissly and the other to Quentin Johnston. A late drive in the first half resulted in a field goal and the Chargers led 24-6 at the break.
The Bengals were outgained 272-126 before halftime. It looked like Los Angeles was on its way to a one-sided win.
Then the Bengals, with their season hanging in the balance, came alive. Joe Burrow got hot. Touchdown passes to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins cut Los Angeles’ lead to 27-20. A fumble by Herbert inside Bengals territory gave Cincinnati even more momentum. Burrow escaped a couple of sack attempts on the ensuing drive and hit Chase for another touchdown. Cincinnati was awful in the first half and trailed 27-6 at one point, but scored 21 points in a row for a tie game early in the fourth quarter.
The Bengals were storming back and the Chargers were imploding.
A wild 4th quarter
The Bengals were in position to take a late lead, but McPherson, normally reliable, missed a field goal. The Chargers couldn’t take advantage, with a holding penalty wiping out a first-down pass from Herbert, then a bad miss from Herbert to a wide-open McConkey when they replayed third down.
As the Chargers were letting the Bengals back in the game, Herbert was helping give it to them through his fourth-quarter fumble, the miss to McConkey and the general ineffectiveness of the offense. Los Angeles got just a field goal after halftime as the Bengals had their scoring barrage.
After Herbert missed McConkey, the Bengals had another chance to complete the comeback. They drove into Chargers territory in the final minutes of regulation. Burrow kept hitting huge passes to help get the Bengals into field-goal range. But McPherson missed a 51-yard attempt with less than two minutes to go.
Herbert followed with three straight incompletions and the Chargers punted, giving the Bengals another chance to win the game. Cincinnati punted it right back.
That gave Herbert a chance. He hit two passes to McConkey, one for 28 yards and the other for 27, which seemingly put the Chargers in position for a field goal. But Dobbins broke a long run and jumped into the end zone for the winning score.
There are seven weeks left in the season, and a lot can change in that time, but it seems like we can figure out the seven AFC playoff teams.
The Bills, Chiefs and Texans are big favorites to win their divisions. The Steelers lead the AFC North but the Ravens can’t be counted out, and the team that doesn’t win the division will get a wild card. The Chargers and surprising Broncos look like the other two wild-card teams. Sunday night’s loss puts the Bengals well out of the postseason picture.
The Bengals have been competitive in most of their losses, including a wild comeback to tie Sunday night’s game. Close won’t be good enough for Cincinnati when playoff berths are given out.
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