The Cincinnati Bengals get conservative in OT and that costs them a win against Baltimore.

CINCINNATI – Three years ago, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor sat in front of the media and said he was losing sleep over the decision to take the ball out of Joe Burrow's hands in overtime after a loss to the San Francisco 49ers .

From that moment on, Taylor let Burrow cook, and the Cincinnati starters picked up six straight wins and reached the Super LVI.

But 1,029 days later, history repeated itself the following Sunday at Paycor Stadium when Taylor again took the ball out of Burrow's hands in overtime, suffering what was sure to be another sleep-depriving loss.

Only that loss could be far more damaging, as a 41-38 loss to the Baltimore Ravens dropped the Bengals to 1-4, their worst start since Taylor's first season in 2019, when the team started 0-11.

When the Ravens quarterback released a snap with 6:28 left in overtime, the Bengals had a game-winning chance and had the ball at the Baltimore 38-yard line.

Three plays later, Taylor and the Bengals settled for a 53-yard field goal attempt that failed when rookie owner Ryan Rehkow dropped the ball as he put it on the ground, resulting in Evan's kick McPherson hooked him wildly to the left.

“I personally thought we should have been a little more aggressive in the first and second to get Evan into better field goal range,” said Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who had one of the best games of his career with nine catches 83 yards and two touchdowns.

And it wasn't just Higgins who had a big day.

The Ravens struggled to cope with quarterback Joe Burrow, who threw for 392 yards and five touchdowns, the most of his career, and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who caught 10 passes for 193 yards and two scores.

But with the game on the line, the Bengals handed the ball to Chase Brown on three consecutive plays, including two runs that gained zero yards.

“I think we should have tried at least one play to give it to one of our playmakers — me or Tee or Three (Andrei Iosivas) — to try to get a first down,” Chase said. “We did that the whole game.”

When asked about the offense in overtime, Burrow refrained from questioning Taylor.

“No matter how good their rushing is, there’s always a risk of getting sacked in a situation like that,” Burrow said. “I don't doubt that. We were within field goal range. Yes, you want to gain a few meters to make it easier. But their defense is also really good and constantly allows negative plays.

“I won’t question it,” he added. “We had a chance to win it and we didn’t take it.”

Taylor explained his playful thought process on the series.

“We feel like we’re in field goal range,” he said. “We’ve thrown the ball in this situation before. We called a pass. Joe really did a great job of getting us out of the situation and getting us going again because the look wasn't there to throw. There was good management from him. I'm still a few meters away.

“And then we’re in position to win with the field goal,” he continued. “And we thought we were going to win it.”

The only big difference between Sunday and the 2021 loss in San Francisco was that the Bengals needed a touchdown to end the game against the 49ers.

Against the Ravens they only needed a field goal.

But the conversational approach and the defensive breakdown were the same thing.

They settled for the field goal against San Francisco and then let the 49ers run down the field for a game-winning touchdown.

They settled for a field goal against Baltimore and then allowed Derrick Henry to rip off a 51-yard run to the 6-yard line for a game-winning chip shot off the foot of Justin Tucker.

Whether Taylor's sleep loss is the same remains to be seen.

It's also questionable whether the 2024 Bengals have the resolve to overcome an OT loss the way the 2021 team did.

“We’re not a championship-caliber team right now. “We’re not,” Burrow said. “I like to think we will come back and improve as the season progresses to get to this point, but at the moment that is not the case. We have to do better.”

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