After the Bengals erased a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game with 1:03 left when Mike Nugent hit a 43-yard field goal from the right hash to tie it at 31, Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer hit three passes to put his team in field-goal position.
Then when Bengals nose tackle Domata Peko was called for calling out signals for a 15-yard penalty, the field goal became a 32-yard chip shot by Chandler Catanzaro with one second left for a stunning 34-31 Bengals loss at University of Phoenix Stadium.
The Bengals shook off a 21-0 third quarter and Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton finished 22 of 39 for 315 yards and a 99.8 passer rating. Palmer logged 111.2 on 20 of 31 for 317 yards, 57 on the last three throws.
Dalton hit tight end Tyler Eifert for his second touchdown of the night with 3:44 left in the game on a 10-yard pass where Eifert held on despite a hellacious hit from safety Tony Jefferson across the middle of the end zone.
The defense then gave the Bengals one final shot to win it on a third-and-one stand for the ages with 2:44 left when safety Reggie Nelson and middle linebacker Rey Maualuga stormed up the middle to stop running back Chris Johnson for no gain.
Bengals running back Giovani Bernard, on his way to a 128-yard career-high receiving night on eight catches, had a 30-yard run catch and run to set up Nugent’s field goal.
After holding the Cardinals top-ranked offense to 102 yards in the first half, the Bengals’ No. 1 scoring defense imploded when Palmer threw three touchdown passes in a nine-minute span of the third quarter to erase a 14-7 half-time deficit.
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