Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown s stopped just short of the 1st down line to end their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026 at Paycor Stadium. Jacksonville defeated Cincinnati 22-17.
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Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor gave a spirited postgame speech after watching his team come up short on another attempt at a game-winning drive for a second week in a row.
Players said it was the encouragement they needed after a 22-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Oct. 4 — a game in which they were missing two safeties, lost Ja’Marr Chase to a concussion early in the second quarter and finished with Tee Higgins trying to battle through an adductor injury.
Joe Burrow’s fourth-down pass to Chase Brown came up just shy of the sticks at the Jaguars’ 12-yard line with 50 seconds left.
“We’re not that kind of team this year that’s going to take consolation in the losses, but I am allowed to see the silver lining that this team’s got a lot of fight, and if I get this team for 13 more weeks, I’m signing up for that all day,” Taylor said. “Just disappointing that we didn’t get this one.”
RELATED: Burrow misses chance at redemption in 22-17 loss to Jaguars
Here are five takeaways from the loss:
Burrow misses in clutch opportunities
During a week where Burrow’s performance in clutch situations was debated heavily after he fumbled in field goal range on the last play of a loss at Pittsburgh, he didn’t help change the narrative.
Burrow threw two interceptions, including a costly one in the red zone early in the fourth quarter with a chance to give his team a lead. Jacksonville ended up extending its lead to 22-10 with 6:35 left, but Burrow and the offense responded to make it a five-point game and got the ball back with 1:44 left.
With his top three receivers banged up or out of the game, Burrow still led Cincinnati to the Jaguars’ 21-yard line, but his first three passes fell incomplete before the fourth-down completion to Brown for nine yards. He’s now 1-35 when trailing with eight minutes left.
“Obviously, we had our opportunities in the last two weeks, but this isn’t Armageddon or anything,” Burrow said. “We’re still in a great spot, feel really good about our team.”
Brown said he thought he had the first down on the final pass.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’marr Chase runs after the catch in the first half of their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026 at Paycor Stadium.
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Receiving corps takes more hits
Ja’Marr Chase exited early in the second quarter in concussion protocol after taking a hard hit and facemask penalty from Jarrian Jones, and Tee Higgins suffered an adductor injury with about five minutes left. He went back in the game but couldn’t hardly run his routes, Taylor said.
That left Mike Gesicki, Dohnte Meyers and Mitch Tinsley as the targets on the final drive. Tinsley caught a 29-yard pass, Gesicki had one for 18 yards and Meyers grabbed a 15-yard pass on the first three plays, but then attempts to each one fell incomplete the next three plays before Brown’s catch came up short.
After Meyers couldn’t make a contested catch on first down, Burrow said there was a miscommunication on the underthrow to Gesicki at the goal line. He overthrew a deep pass to Tinsley on third down.
“We called it just like we would have if anybody else was in there,” Burrow said. “Those guys make plays. I said that this is the deepest room we’ve had.”
Burrow completed 39 of 54 passes for 428 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions and two sacks. Higgins had 157 yards on 11 catches, and Meyers added 82 yards on seven receptions.
Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Myles Murphy leaps to block a pass from Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026 at Paycor Stadium. Jacksonville defeated Cincinnati 22-17.
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Defense could have done more
Jacksonville never trailed, and players on the Bengals defense said they felt like they could have done more to help the offense finish the game in winning formation. Chris Rodriguez scored on a 25-yard run to make it a 12-point game with 6:35 left, and the offense was under the gun to rally.
The Bengals moved 71 yards on nine plays to make it a one-score game with 3:28 left on Burrow’s one-yard sneak, but on third-and-8, the defense gave up a 15-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence to Brenton Strange.
If it weren’t for Patrick Washington stepping out of bounds at the Cincinnati 48-yard line, the Jaguars would have been in the red zone with two minutes left instead of punting. Washington was brought down by Dax Hill at the 16-yard line before the play was reversed to where he was out of bounds.
The Jaguars finished with 111 yards rushing, and Lawrence completed 18 of 23 passes for 227 yards and one touchdown. Cincinnati had 12 missed tackles.
Dexter Lawrence, who had one of four sacks on Lawrence, said he felt like the Bengals were going to win when they got the ball back to Burrow. He remains confident in the quarterback despite the comeback attempts falling short the past two weeks.
“I like that situation, 100 percent,” Lawrence said.
Running game was the worst it’s been
The Bengals rushed 15 times for 23 yards on Sunday, and Chase Brown had nine of those carries for 10 yards. It was the lowest running total in the Zac Taylor era.
“They’re a really good run defense,” Brown said. “They did a better job at defending the run than we were running the ball today. That’s what it is sometimes. We’ll learn from it on the tape. I think there’s a lot of areas that we can do better in, including myself.”
Cincinnati turned to screens, with Brown catching 11 passes for 71 yards, and Burrow said his response to the lack of success on the ground is just to “throw it more” because that’s what he does best and the pass protection has been good.
Sloppy first half impacted by penalties
The Jaguars took a 13-3 lead into halftime, but it was tough for either team to get into a rhythm with 16 penalties for 149 yards. It was the most penalties called in one half this season, topping the Week 1 game between the Bears and Panthers.
Jacksonville coach Liam Coen said “that was just mental” and he’s never seen something like that, but didn’t want to say anything that would get him fined.
Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Brenton Strange runs after making a catch during their game against Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026 at Paycor Stadium.
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The game finished with 24 penalties for 233 yards. The Super Bowl era record is 35 penalties (Buccaneers vs. Seahawks) in 1976. Sunday’s officiating crew averaged 16.13 penalties per game last year, which was the highest mark since 2018.
“It is what it is,” Taylor said. “It felt like it was going both ways on some of that stuff, so you just have to make the most of it.”