CINCINNATI — Between the blunders and bruises, Sunday probably couldn't have gone any worse for the Cincinnati Bengals.
That a flat effort could have been salvaged with a couple of different bounces and an aggressive mindset makes it more aggravating.
Seeing a three-game win streak end at home against a Miami Dolphins team with a rookie quarterback is a disappointment, and their 17-13 loss is quite possibly one the Bengals will later lament. But knowing the Bengals tried a field goal while trailing by what would become the final score is nothing short of mind-numbing.
The Bengals scored the game's first six points; the Dolphins got the next 17. A 2-yard touchdown catch from A.J. Green just 45 seconds into the fourth quarter made it 17-12, but Bengals coach Marvin Lewis chose not to go for two and put his team a field goal away from tying the game.
"I didn't expect that to be our last score of the day," Lewis said.
Though the game was clearly dominated by the defenses — more so by the Dolphins defense than the Bengals — there was 14:15 left, and that nine-play scoring drive was easily the best the Bengals had put together all day. Still, trying to get within a field goal might have further energized a crowd that hadn't had much reason to cheer previously.
It might have also put more pressure on a Dolphins team that held fourth-quarter leads in each of its previous two games before losing those leads, and losing both games in overtime.
Instead, the Bengals kicked the PAT and trailed by four. And when they faced a fourth and five at the Dolphins 23 with 3:02 to go, they chose to kick again. Mike Nugent's field goal sailed wide right, and at that point the numbers didn't add up to anything but the end of the winning streak and a 3-2 record for the Bengals through five games. That's better than 2-3, certainly, but not what anybody involved wanted.
"We let a good opportunity get away from us today," Lewis said. "There is no doubt in my mind about that."
Hindsight can be a great teacher. The Bengals didn't play well, and they didn't play the fourth-quarter scoring situations right.
On the missed field goal, Nugent said he just didn't hit it well. It happens, and it was one of those days almost across the board.
The Dolphins' front seven outdid the Bengals' offensive line, holding the Bengals to 21 yards rushing in the second half and sacking Andy Dalton three times. The Bengals lost backup running back Bernard Scott to what's feared to be a torn ACL in the second half, and mental errors ranging from dropped passes to poorly-timed penalties hurt, too. The Dolphins turned the ball over twice early in the game, and the Bengals only got two field goals out of them.
Trying that third field goal instead of trying to convert fourth and five from the 23 while down by four, with just three-plus minutes left? It just doesn't make sense.
Here's what Lewis said about the decision after the game: "We thought we could stop them and get the ball back again, then kick another field goal and win the game. We got the ball back, but weren’t able to do anything with it.
"It really depends on the yardage in that situation. It’s easy to sit here and second-guess it now."
It is. Green and Andrew Hawkins aren't the only guys in stripes who dropped the ball at some point on Sunday.
The Dolphins came in desperate after giving games away in each of the last two weeks and played like the team that needed the game. Ryan Tannehill was poised against pressure and threw for 223. Dalton threw two interceptions, the Bengals stunk (2-of-14) on third down and never established any type of flow.
We learned what we probably already knew, but something that could have been hidden by another victory and a fourth-straight victory.
That the mostly young and pretty talented Bengals aren't there yet.
If they don't play loose, aggressively and like they're underdogs, they won't get there. Losing at home to the Dolphins has put them in a very tough spot.
