The Cincinnati Bengals scored at least 33 points for the sixth time this season on Sunday. They’ve won just two of those six games after another loss.
“It’s hard to process,” Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said after the Bengals’ 44-38 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. “We can’t get a win right now.”
Sunday’s was the Bengals’ third straight loss in spite of scoring 99 combined points over that span. It also dropped the disappointing Bengals to 4-8.
“Playoffs, I mean, furthest thing from my mind,” star quarterback Joe Burrow said bluntly.
The Bengals’ defense allowed the Steelers to roll to a 520-yard performance, scoring five straight times after the opening-possession pick-six on Sunday. The scoring streak ended with a missed field goal, but the Steelers marched on an 80-yard TD drive on the ensuing possession and would bleed the clock with an 11-play field goal drive to help put the game away for good.
Burrow and the Bengals flourished at times on offense, but losing the turnover battle 3-to-1 also hurt their chances of winning.
“Not enough to win. Not enough to win,” Burrow said. “Some good, some bad, just like every week. But not enough to win.”
He’s almost right about the every-week part, too. The Bengals are now 1-7 in one-score games this season. Nine of their 12 opponents have scored at least 24 points against them.
“We been had a little margin for error,” Chase said after the game.
Burrow said he still had faith in the Bengals’ defense because of the hard work they put in, also citing some of their stronger efforts this season. Chase wasn’t sure if he was surprised the Bengals’ defense has struggled the way it has most of the season.
“I don’t know. They need to find a way,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way.”
Burrow said the Bengals’ remaining games will give the team an idea of who can be counted on and who might be on the roster for shorter stints.
“I think we’ll learn a lot about who we have in the locker room,” Burrow told reporters. “The guys that we can count on going forward, the guys that we can’t. I think the next five weeks are going to say a lot about who we can count on and who we can’t.”
Burrow also is prepared to shoulder whatever portion of the load he needs to keep the Bengals competitive, knowing that the margin for error is as small as it has been.
“I feel the pressure on me to be great,” he said. “That’s part of playing quarterback in the NFL. I just have to play to the absolute peak of my ability for us to go and win.”
