Bengals’ playoff chances in doubt thanks to slow starts

Get past the overtime thrills, and the chills you got watching Joe Burrow almost make magic. Push through the calls Zac Taylor did and didn’t make in OT, with his offense on the edge of winnin’ time. Try to ignore the sad fact that losing games such as this one is just what the Bengals do…

And understand that for the past two weeks, Cincinnati has let salvation slip through its fingers like a Darius Phillips fumble.

Three Sunday nights ago, the Bengals were 6-4 and the gods were handing them gifts: excellent health and three home games in a row. The former is almost unheard-of in the NFL in late November. The latter is like an extra birthday cake.

If you aspire to be a postseason contender, you take care of that business. Instead, the Bengals lost twice.

For the second week in a row, a player appeared at the postgame press gathering and said, in so many words, that the team was not ready to play. After a 41-22 loss to the Chargers, Tee Higgins suggested there was a lack of energy to begin the game. On Sunday, Mike Hilton said, “It’s a multitude of things. Guys not coming prepared...”

Whoa.

Meanwhile, Sam Hubbard answered a question about the booing the Bengals took as they left the field at halftime, down 17-6 by saying, “We weren’t playing up to our standard.”

OK. What is the standard? Because right now, it seems to be take it easy in the first half of very important games, believing you can rally in the second half like snapping your fingers. Burrow said, “We’ve kind of been a secondhalf team the whole season,” then, not two minutes later added, “It’s a fourquarter game.”

The Chargers and 49ers are nothing special. Their records and situations were very similar to Cincinnati’s. And look what happened.

There’s still time for the Bengals to do good things, thanks to the benevolence of the rest of the AFC North, which is in a metaphorical walking boot. All four division teams combined would struggle to give the New England Patriots a game at this point.

But after the previous two weeks, you wonder if the Bengals have it in them to take the proverbial next step.

“It’s still right there,” Burrow said, again.

It is? Then go get it.

KAREEM ELGAZZAR/THE ENQUIRER Bengals running back Joe Mixon and his teammates have damaged their playoff chances by losing back-to-back games to the Chargers and 49ers.