Bengals ‘not panicking’ despite continued struggles in close games

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor has preached about how close the team is to “turning the corner,” and that continued again Monday in his weekly press conference to reflect on the previous game and start looking ahead to the next.

The Bengals (1-4-1) held a multi-score first-half lead for the first time in Taylor’s two seasons Sunday at Indianapolis but were outscored 31-6 over nearly three quarters to end with a 31-27 loss. Taylor is now 3-18-1 and has yet to win a road game. The team is 0-11-1 in games decided by seven points or less, the lone win this year coming by a 33-25 margin against the Jaguars.

Asked if he’s starting to feel the pressure of figuring out how exactly to get over that hump, Taylor was emphatic that he can’t allow himself to.

“You don’t have that choice,” Taylor said. "You’ve got to stick with what you believe in and building the team the right way. Not panicking. We’re a couple plays away from having a really good record, but we just haven’t made those plays, haven’t made those calls. Again, we’re all in this thing together. I understand the situation we put ourselves in with our record over the last two years, but also know how capable we are of getting this thing turned quickly to where a lot more people jump back on the bandwagon and want to be a part of it.

“But again, we have to hold together in this locker room and this building like we have been and just get to that point to where we can enjoy that success and all the work we’ve put in.”

The locker room might not appear as “together” as Taylor paints it with a handful of guys recently becoming more vocal on social media about their roles changing, or in A.J. Green’s case being caught on camera where people couldn’t hear his words but could see he wasn’t happy. Green and defensive end Carlos Dunlap both came back to say they were just frustrated with losing.

On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that wide receiver John Ross has asked for a trade. Ross, a first-round pick in 2017, has two catches on five targets for 17 yards and played only one snap Sunday after being inactive three straight games, the third while he had been ill during the practice week.

The trade deadline is coming up in two weeks, Nov. 3, and normally Cincinnati hasn’t been active with in-season moves but the organization bucked the trend of not spending much in free agency this offseason, signing guys like D.J. Reader, Trae Waynes and Vonn Bell.

“I think that upstairs they always do a good job of evaluating what’s best for the team,” Taylor said Monday when asked if he thinks the team might consider moving players in or out. “Whether that involves trades or not that’s always talked through, and ultimately they make the best decisions for the club.”

Taylor said he’s involved in that process too, as he speaks with ownership and personnel department staff daily, so nothing would be a surprise to him if a trade was made either way.

However, his focus remains on getting wins with the guys currently in his locker room. The Bengals are last in the AFC North, where they are the only team with a losing record. Pittsburgh leads at 5-0, Baltimore is 5-1 and the Cleveland Browns, whom come to Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday, are 4-2.

“Ultimately, we want to get in the playoffs and do all the things that we want to do, but right now we’re just focused on finding a win,” Taylor said.

Veteran linebacker Josh Bynes said the mood of the locker room after Sunday’s loss was one that showed how upset the players were to go up 21-0 and somehow not win, but they still believe they are better than their record shows.

“We definitely should be a 4-2 team right now,” Bynes said. “…We just gotta learn to finish these games and then of course the conversation is different that we’re having right now. It just sucks because I feel like we’re a better team than that, especially with how we played (Sunday). Just didn’t make the one or two plays that we needed down the stretch to win the game. That’s what we haven’t done this season. We have to learn how to finish in all phases. It just sucks to know that we’re that close to really being such a great team. And just to fall short and the record say otherwise than what we know we’re capable of.”

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