The Bengals lost in overtime Sunday when kicker Mason Crosby hit a 27-yard field goal doomed them, 27-24, after Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers found wide receiver Geronimo Allison for 72 yards on Green Bay’s only possession.
The Bengals went three-and-out to start the OT and failed to get a touchdown in the game’s final 46 minutes.
The last 3:46 of regulation belonged to Rodgers as he bobbed and weaved away from a Bengals pass rush that had sacked him six times and drove Green Bay from its 25 to the tying touchdown with 17 seconds left hitting nine of 11 passes in the drive as a tired, hot defense had trouble getting to him.
On third-and-one, Ty Montgomery ran for six yards to the Bengals 7 and then rookie pass rusher Carl Lawson, brilliant all day with 2.5 sacks , was called for lining up offsides. So from the 3, they rolled out Rodgers to the right and wide receiver Jordy Nelson was isolated on cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick dove to knock it down but couldn’t get it.
Early in the drive on third-and-nine Rodgers threw a dart for a first down to Allison even though cornerback Darqueze Dennard was draped all over him. Then on the play before the two-minute warning he threw across the field away from the rush to Nelson on the sideline for 10 at the Bengals 33.
The Bengals, trying to take advantage of losses by the Steelers and Ravens and trying to avoid their first 0-3 start since 2008, clung to a 21-17 lead when they got the ball at their own 9 with ten minutes left and Andy Dalton, enjoying a big bounce back game, handed it to rookie running back Joe Mixon five times for 30 yards o put the Bengals on the Packers 27 facing a third-and-one. And they were going to give it to Mixon again, but he slipped before he got the handoff and Dalton tried to get it but he couldn’t. Yet Mixon’s good work killed six minutes and on his way to a 62-yard day on 18 carries. That set up Randy Bullock’s 46-yard field goal to give Cincy a 24-17 lead with 3:46 left.
The Bengals offense looked a lot better, but after scoring their first two touchdowns of the season on the game’s first three drives, they continued to struggle and went without points starting early in the second quarter until Bullock’s field goal. After Bengals defensive lineman Chris Smith came from the inside for the sixth sack of Rodgers, the Bengals got the ball at the Packers 47 for their best drive start of the day in the middle of the third quarter.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
