EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. –– In the middle of the fourth quarter against possibly the worst team in the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals had a two-score lead.
That should have been more than enough against a New York Jets team that allowed 54 points last week. That should have been more than enough against a Jets team with a quarterback making his first career start.
Instead, the Bengals blew the game in their worst loss of the season in a 34-31 defeat against the Jets. For the entire game, the Bengals didn’t look like the team that was in the middle of its best start since 2015.
Analysis:What we learned from Bengals 'wake up call' loss to the Jets
“We’re now the hunted, and we’ve always been the hunters,” Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard said. “They were hungrier than we were today … Anybody can get us, and we have to prepare that way.”
A defense that had been composed, effective and disciplined all season cost the Bengals the game. Jets quarterback Mike White had 405 passing yards. With two minutes left, the Bengals got the stop on third down, but Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton gifted the Jets a first down with a questionable unnecessary roughness penalty.
On 3rd and 11, Hilton tackled running back Ty Johnson for a stop, but Hilton was called for a penalty on the play. It looked like Hilton made a clean tackle, but since his helmet touched Johnson’s, the Jets got the first down.
“It looked like a football play, clean tackle,” Hubbard said. “Mike is a (great) football player, and I thought he made a great play.”
Nearly all of the Bengals strengths this season looked like weaknesses against the Jets. Cincinnati's defense missed tackles and didn't pressure the quarterback, and the offense had miscommunications on some of the most important plays of the game.
“We didn’t make enough plays,” Bengals safety Jessie Bates III said. “We gave up 34 points. We didn’t tackle good enough. Things that we’ve been doing all year, we didn’t do today.”
On defense, the Bengals allowed 217 first half passing yards to a backup quarterback. While the defense forced three turnovers, Jets running back Michael Carter gashed the Bengals up the middle as New York scored two first half touchdowns.
The same Bengals defense that kept Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson guessing last week was picked apart by a quarterback that the Jets have cut three times. Taylor said the defense had one of the worst tackling games he had seen.
“Got outcoached and got outplayed today,” Taylor said. “They’re a hungry team, and we knew they were capable of this. It was not good enough in any phase.”
While the Bengals defense played its worst game of the year, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow kept the team in the game.
When the Bengals needed a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Burrow made two first down throws into tight windows to wide receiver Tyler Boyd and tight end C.J. Uzomah. Then on 3rd and 6, Burrow scrambled out of the pocket and found Boyd in the back right corner of the end zone as the Bengals took a 31-20 lead.
But the Bengals offense also gave the team some of its biggest setbacks. The Bengals receivers dropped passes, the offense left 11 points on the table in the red zone and the line didn’t protect Burrow on the offense’s last two third downs of the game.
“You can learn a lot from every loss,” Burrow said. “The film will show where we weren’t good enough. When you don’t play well enough in this league, you can get beat by anybody.”
The Bengals 31-20 lead in the fourth quarter didn’t hold against a team that entered Sunday with one win all season. White gave the Jets a 34-31 lead with a 13-yard touchdown throw to tight end Tyler Kroft with just under four minutes left.
The Bengals missed an opportunity for a game-winning score when Burrow was sacked on third down, and the Jets finished one of the most surprising upsets of the NFL season.
“It’s a wakeup call,” Hubbard said. “We learned that today, That’s a valuable lesson that won’t be forgotten.”
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