Despite heading into the fourth quarter with a 137-yard edge in offense and nearly seven minutes in time of possession, the Bengals let a should-have-could-have opener slip through their hands in a 24-21 defeat to the Bears at Soldier Field.
The game was summed up when middle linebacker Rey Maualuga was called for a personal foul with 1:06 left that prevented the Bengals from getting the ball back and ended the game.
Earlier in the final period, with too many men on the field for their defense, the Bengals had to take their last timeout with 8:06 left. But that didn’t prevent Cutler from scrambling for 18 yards on second-and-20, or from running back Matt Forte going wide to convert a fourth-and-one, or for Marshall beating safety Reggie Nelson for a 19-yard touchdown with 7:58 left to put Chicago ahead to stay.
Then when the Bengals went three-and-out with six minutes left, they couldn’t get the ball back with Cutler converting a third-and-nine when tight end Martellus Bennett, lined up as the widest receiver, beat cornerback Leon Hall over the middle for the first down with about five minutes left.
The Bengals couldn’t overcome three turnovers and eight penalties and a bevvy of blown chances that handed the Bears a field goal at the end of the first half. The Bengals couldn’t take advantage of linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s interception of Cutler with more than 13 minutes left when wide receiver Mohamed Sanu handed the ball back on a fumble about a minute later as they were getting into the red zone.
The Bengals overcame a brutal first six minutes of their 2013 season to stage an air show in the first half with quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green accounting for 129 yards and two touchdowns as the Bengals took a 14-10 halftime lead.
But the Bengals playcalling and an unsportsmanlike penalty on cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick handed Bears kicker Robbie Gould his career-long 58-yard field goal at the end of the half even though Chicago had only one timeout left when it got the ball back with 37 seconds left.
Cornerback Adam Jones let a punt bounce behind him to his own 12 with 1:43 left and the Bengals chose to throw an incomplete pass on second down to Green that stopped the clock after running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis lost four yards on first down.
Not only that, but Green left the game as the doctors looked at his left hand. He returned in the second half with the hand taped.
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