Bengals fritter away another big lead in a second frustrating loss to Ravens

 Ar tight game, ar loss for Cincinnati Bengals. It's a frustrating pattern that has put struggling team in danger of missing playoffs despite outstanding play of Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase.

For second time in two games against division rival Baltimore Ravens, Bengals blew a big le Thursday night and lost 35-34. Cincinnati was on cusp of reaching .500 following an 0-3 start, but those hopes vanished as quickly as its 14-point le in third quarter.

In ir previous game against Baltimore last month, Bengals (4-6) frittered away a 10-point le in fourth quarter before losing 41-38 in overtime.

In this one, Cincinnati led 21-7 before running back Chase Brown h ball stripped and lost a fumble that Baltimore recovered at Cincy 31. Five plays later, Ravens (7-3) scored a touchdown to ignite ir comeback.

“We gave m seven points right re with fumble,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “It kind of went back and forth from re.”

And when teams got done tring touchdowns, Ravens were one point better after Cincinnati failed on a 2-point conversion with 38 seconds remaining.

Burrow went 34 for 56 for 428 yards and four touchdowns, three of m to Chase, who racked up a whopping 264 yards receiving on 11 catches and scored on plays of 67, 70 and 5 yards.

In two games against Baltimore, Burrow has thrown for 820 yards and nine TDs. Chase has amassed 457 yards and five touchdowns.

And incredibly, Cincinnati went 0-2 against its AFC rth foe. Burrow and Chase have been magnificent this season, yet ir haughty numbers are overshowed se two digits: 4 and 6.

“It’s crazy,” Chase said. “I would never in a million years expect me to play this well and he play this well and still have record like this.”

Cincinnati's inability to make a le stand up is painfully obvious. Bengals fell to Kansas City on a last-second field goal; lost to Washington despite getting 324 yards passing and three touchdowns from Burrow; and lost to Philelphia when Eagles scored game's final 20 points.

Worst of all: twin collapses against Baltimore.

“It’s sickening that this has happened twice to us,” Taylor said. “We got to find a way to close out se games.”

Chase has a knack for getting open against Ravens, and Burrow usually gets him ball. But with outcome hanging in balance, Burrow's throw on 2-point conversion whistled past lesser kwn Tanner Hudson.

Asked if he was open on play, Chase replied, “Yeah, I'm always open.”

Chase proved to be a reliable target with Bengals forced to play without injured wide receiver Tee Higgins. But Cincinnati was virtually defenseless against Lamar Jackson and his talented band of receivers.

“It sucks losing to those guys,” Chase said. “But if we keep playing and win, we’ll be where we want to be.”

Bengals have very little margin for error with only seven games to go. Can this team rebound and make playoffs?

Chase believes so.

“Yeah, I do. One hundred percent,” he said. “We showed it tonight, what we can do.”

And what y can't do, which is make a le stand up.

“We just got to figure out a way to make that last play to win,” Taylor said.