The Cincinnati Bengals lost a heartbreaker to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game on a late field goal.
That hardly tells the whole story, of course. The Bengals came out flat and got dominated for much of the first half before adjusting and making a game of it.
Referee-induced chaos, big moments and a brutal late penalty that put the Chiefs in position to kick the game-winner defined what was another heavyweight slugfest between the two rivals.
Here’s a look at some of the immediate takeaways and details to know from the close loss before things transition to offseason talk.
The offensive line...
…collapsed. That’s the only word for it. Hakeem Adeniji at right tackle and especially Max Scharping at right guard just couldn’t get it done. They were constant problems and it was problematic enough to swing the game. It can’t be helped — the injury bug hit hard. But quality depth is the next big step for the front office.
The first half
An unmitigated disaster. Burrow can’t take multiple sacks in a drive, the offense can’t get outgained 110-0 in the opening quarter and falling behind 6-0 can’t be the best thing that happened to the team for an entire half. It was a brutal slow start. The recovery eventually happened, but it cost them the game.
Joseph Ossai
Ossai is going to go down as infamous for the roughing-the-passer penalty that put the Chiefs in game-winning field goal range. But any comparison to the 2015 playoff meltdown is straight-up wrong. He had a superb game and it should have never came down to that if the entire team had played better throughout. He needs to be more situationally aware of where he’s at on the field and when to let up of course, but he’s not going to deserve some of the impending backlash.
Officiating
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor handled the postgame with class, not wading into waters he probably could have. There was a ton of controversy in this one — just look at the reactions to the “shut down” play in which the Chiefs re-did a third down they had initially failed. Moments like that and the controversial intentional grounding will be used as proof all offseason that the league still has an immense officiating problem.
Where things go from here
For starters, the Bengals take a break after playing the longest season ever last year, then nearly doing it again this season. They have key free agents to worry about, such as Jessie Bates, Germaine Pratt, Hayden Hurst and more. Now the front office is free to work on Joe Burrow’s extension. Draft prep also comes to the forefront. They’ll pick 28th. The Bengals again tout one of the league’s highest cap numbers and much of the core will return, so after a Super Bowl appearance and two conference title appearances, the arrow continues to point up.
