McPherson missed his final kick, a 51-yarder, with 1:48 left, and there were still two punts after that, before the Chargers scored on J.K. Dobbins’ 29-yard touchdown run. Joe Burrow’s Hail Mary pass to Tee Higgins, who finished with 148 yards receiving in his return from a quad injury, was batted away on the final play of the game.
Cincinnati heads into the bye week at 4-7 with the playoff chances looking dim, while L.A. improved to 7-3.
The Chargers scored on five of their first seven drives, including touchdowns on three of them, to build a 27-6 lead in the third quarter while Cincinnati struggled in all phases of the game to that point. L.A. moved the ball with ease on one of the worst defenses in the league, but the Bengals’ offense was unable to do the same against a Chargers defense seeking to prove its top ranking in points allowed is legit.
That is, until it seemed the game seemed out of reach. The Bengals climbed back with an eye on keeping their playoff chances alive.
After three straight three-and-outs, the Bengals offense finally executed a touchdown drive to make it a 14-point game, and the defense buckled up to force a three-and-out. Four plays later, Cincinnati was dancing in the endzone again with Burrow hitting Higgins on a 42-yard touchdown pass to make it a seven-point game with less than three minutes left in the third quarter.
Los Angeles gave the Bengals a chance to tie it when Herbert fumbled at the end of a scramble, forced out by Logan Wilson, and Geno Stone recovered to put the ball on the Cincinnati 29-yard line. Chase Brown caught a pair of passes for 34 and 14 yards and had a 12-yard run to help the Bengals into the redzone, and Burrow finished off the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase to tie the game.
The Bengals had been to the redzone twice on their first three drives of the game and only had a pair of short field goals to show for it. McPherson’s first field goal, to make it 3-0, came after a first-and-goal from the 3-yard line was followed by an illegal shift and then an intentional grounding as Burrow was about to be sacked.
L.A. drove 70 yards on five plays after that drive to take the lead when Justin Herbert connected with Will Dissly for a 29-yard touchdown that might have gotten Cam Taylor-Britt benched. Josh Newton replaced him the next drive, but both players were needed late in the game after D.J. Turner injured his collar bone.
From there, it was all Los Angeles until the second half.
Burrow finished with 356 yards passing and three touchdowns, while Herbert had 297 yards and two scores. Dobbins rushed for 56 yards and two touchdown on 11 carries.
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