(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)Should I say the Bengals fell just short of winning a game against the Chargers and clinching the AFC North or would that be an understatement. Seems like we cant beat any playoff contenting team outside of AFC North.
I honestly think this game can be summarized by the last two minutes, we have a chance to win the game, but we end up almost loosing a fumble which puts us at 2 and 36. Then our defense gives them too much room for them to march down the field and kick a game winning field goal. Why did we play there wide outs so loose in the last minute, I understand the theory of if you play them on a real tight coverage that they might beat us on a deep ball. But the truth of the matter is we lost the game because we played it safe.
Take this as an example, the Chargers with a 21-yard scoring pass from Rivers to Vincent Jackson with 3:12 remaining in the half. That gave the Chargers a 14-10 lead. Then the Bengals marched to the San Diego 7 yard-line, having a first down in the half's final 40 seconds. But three incompletion's later, one when Palmer spiked the ball and Cincinnati had to settle for Shayne Graham's 25-yard. That right there is the difference between really good teams and the Bengals, we have our chances but we don't take advantage of them, we are lacking that fire which puts teams over the hump.
Bengals 24 - Chargers 27 Follow @cilii_blog
