The Bengals are running out of time to save their season and need to find the final touch.

BALTIMORE – Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tanner Hudson hit his head twice—not hard, but dejectedly and frustratedly—on the metal cage that served as his locker in the visiting team’s locker room at M&T Bank Stadium.

No better image could have captured how he and his teammates felt after yet another one-possession loss that makes the team’s postseason quest even more of an “uphill climb,” as Joe Burrow put it.

“Yeah,” the Cincinnati defenseman said of the 2024 season, “this season was disappointing.”

The Bengals were 2 yards away from a clean sheet, a 5-5 record and another step up the crowded ladder that is the AFC playoff picture – with a real chance to beat one of the league’s best division rival teams. , on the road.

Instead, Burrow gave Hudson high praise for what could have been successful two-point conversion 42 seconds left. A night that started with aggression and ended with even more aggression led to Baltimore Ravens win 35–34 on Thursday Night Football. In doing so, the Bengals lost a historic performance from Ja’Marr Chase, who torched the Ravens’ depleted secondary by playing without safety Kyle Hamilton in the second half – for 11 catches, 264 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Burrow completed 34 of 56 passes for 428 yards and four scores.

The defense, however, was unable to maintain the momentum gained in the first half and allowed Lamar Jackson and the Ravens to score four straight touchdowns to close out the game with Cincinnati at one point leading 21-7. A fumble by running back Chase Brown that gave Baltimore a short field to make it 21–14 was an example of the Bengals outside of Burrow and Chase doing their teammates a little favor.

Taylor was aggressive all night as the Bengals started the game on fourth down from Baltimore’s two-yard line. The officials whistled Ravens cornerback Brandon Stevens – one of 11 players against Baltimore for 81 yards – for a defensive holding penalty, and Brown scored on the next play. Cincinnati finished 2-for-4 in the fourth, with two misses coming on Burrow’s deep hits to Jermaine Burton on a single; none of them were particularly close to completion.

“We have to find a way to finish these games,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “We had the opportunity. We went there, we went for two, and it just didn’t work out for us.”

Fighting back from 1-4 to 5-5 would erase the Bengals’ dismal start to the campaign. Instead, when they are 4–6 years old, they cannot forget it.

“We have a good football team. Our records don’t show this yet. There’s still time. This team will hang in there. We’ll be there at the end,” Taylor said. “It’s a tough question because you’re right here and it seemed to me like (you) kind of let it slide.”

In their three losses, the Bengals showed they could hold their own against the class of the conference – the Kansas City Chiefs and Ravens – and lost those games by five points.

“It sucks losing to these guys,” Chase said.

He added: “I think we just need to find a way to finish. All the losses we had, we didn’t finish.”

A 37–17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on October 27 is the Bengals’ only loss of the season by more than six points.

“You look at our losses, they’re pretty much one-possession losses, except for the Philadelphia game,” guard Mike Hilton said. “It’s definitely frustrating.”

None of the Bengals were interested in using no fine when tight end Mike Gesicki was beaten or, as an excuse, Burrow’s helmet was hit on a two-point attempt. Starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. left the game again, as did wide receiver Tee Higgins. With Burrow and Chase, the Bengals have one of the most explosive offenses in the league—they’ve scored twice on the offense’s first play, and Chase’s four touchdowns against Baltimore this year have come from 41, 67, 70 and 70 yards.

“Elite. The best. There is no other explanation,” Gesicki said. “They were incredible. It’s funny how number 1 (Chase) opens up so wide all the time. This is crazy.”

Burrow got 13 hits — which was bound to happen with so many retreats — and was sacked three times by Nnamdi Madubuike.

The Bengals finished 8 of 16 on third down and entered the contest with the third-best shooting percentage in the NFL (46.9%). Every time the Bengals and Ravens entered the red zone, they scored a touchdown.

The Bengals’ defense contained the rushing attack of Derrick Henry and the Ravens but was unable to trouble Jackson after he forced five punts on Baltimore’s first six drives of the game. Cam Taylor-Britt appeared to pick off Jackson with five minutes left just after the Bengals had tied the game at 28, but he was unable to control the ball before it hit the ground. Cincinnati lost the turnover battle 1-0.

“We had a chance to close this case. We just didn’t do it. Came back to bite us,” Hilton said. “One of those tough losses.

“In those critical moments, we had to find a way to force a turnover or get off the field.”

Since Burrow’s arrival in 2020, the Bengals have become a team that routinely wins close games during their contending years (basically, when Burrow is healthy). Now Burrow wonders if those past teams had an elusive quality that this group doesn’t have.

“We have taken advantage of these opportunities in recent years,” he said. “That didn’t happen this year. The guys just had to play until the end to complete these games. But we don’t.”

Next time the Bengals play in prime time again, next Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.. They have a bye Week 12 and finish the season with the Pittsburgh Steelers (twice), Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos on the schedule.

Taylor was adamant his team was better than 4-6, and every player agreed with him. They also know that their record means something at this stage of the season.

“I think your record is what your record is and you are what your record is,” Burrow said. “So now we are a 4-6 person football team. Of course, it will be an uphill battle to get back into this business. I like the guys we have in our locker room. I like our coaches.”

What’s especially frustrating for the Bengals is that Chase and Burrow are playing at this level and still have a winning percentage below .500.

“Yeah, that’s crazy to say,” Chase said. “I would never in a million years have expected me to play this well and (Burrow) to play this well and still have such a record.”

This is the kind of one-in-a-million season that the Bengals were hoping to avoid in 2024. But this is the reality they will have to deal with over the next 10 days.