Bengals Players, Coaches Break Down the Breakdowns on Game-Losing 58-Yard TD Against Bears

CINCINNATI – There were plenty of plays by the Cincinnati Bengals defense on Sunday to wring hands, gnash teeth and smack foreheads about.

But the big one was the final one in their 47-42, comeback-turned-collapse against the Chicago Bears.

It was Caleb Williams’ 58-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland that saw two more weak tackle attempts – in a day, and season, full of them – from safeties Geno Stone and Jordan Battle.

Stone wasn’t in the locker room by the time the media arrived after the game.

Battle was there, but he asked if he could wait until Monday to talk, promising to give reporters as much time as they need.

And the Bengals don’t make coordinators or assistant coaches available after games.

But Monday afternoon, all three weighed in on what went wrong, starting at the end of the play, with Battle just throwing a shoulder into Loveland rather than taking him to the ground.

“We have to get it on the ground there,” Golden said. “We just have to be tighter with our execution there. Just wrap up. Get him on the ground.

“It’s not overly complicated,” Golden continued. “Good player. Good target. Big man. We’ve got to find a way to get him on the ground.”

It’s not as though Golden and the defensive coaches aren’t teaching players to wrap up. It’s Day 1 stuff. And Day 2 and Day 20 and Day 200.

Battle knew what he was supposed to do, but he elected not to.

Why?

“I don’t know. I'll always question that,” he said. “I've got to live and learn and grow from there. Just go for the secure tackle instead of trying to lay the big hit without wrapping up.”

When players know how they’re supposed to tackle but go for the big pop instead of the fundamentally sound technique, how do you get them out of that?

“We've looked at every solution we can, in meetings and practice,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “All we can do is continue to work at it. There's not some magic solution. We would do it if we could, so we just keep working through it in practice, we keep detailing it, keep showing every single clip. We've just got to improve.”

Stone was right there next to Battle when Loveland bounced off.

Either one of them could have made a tackle.

Neither one did.

Had they, it would have forced the Bears to scramble for a game-winning field goal attempt with no timeouts remaining.

While Stone wasn’t around Sunday, he stood and waited at his locker until reporters were finished talking to Cam Taylor-Britt and Battle before making their way to him.

Stone admitted he and Battle failed on the play. But he had a unique spin on the reaction.

“As of now, we've got to be perfect. That's the life we live right now,” he said. “We make one mistake, and the whole world's gonna blow it up.”

Per Pro Football Focus, Stone had two missed tackles Sunday and nine for the year.

PFF had Battle with two misses Sunday and 13 for the year, two shy of Pittsburgh linebacker Patrick Queen’s league-high 15.

Before the game-losing missed attempts on Loveland, there also was a misalignment that contributed to the completion.

“There were some misalignment issues before the snap,” Battle said without singling out any of his teammates. “Guys gotta get guys aligned right before the snap and go out there and play fast.”

But Golden said it was slot corner Josh Newton, who played just 11 snaps in the game, that lined up with improper leverage on Loveland.

“We ended up outside of No. 2 (receiving position occupied by Loveland) toward our sideline and allowed a line drive throw to get in there,” Golden said. “We just can't do that.

“We’ve got to get lined up, cleats in the ground, great pre-snap communication,” Golden added. “All of that is tied together, whether it’s linebackers to the front or safeties. Whatever the communication is we’re trying to make it so we can play fast. Until we can become consistent and eliminate the explosives, we’ll continue to feel like this the day after.”

Golden lamented another element of the play that has been an issue all season – the lack of pass rush.

There were opportunities to get to Williams on the first three plays of the game-winning drive, which started at the Chicago 28 with 54 seconds to go.

The pressure was good enough on the first two to force a pair of incompletions.

Joseph Ossai had a shot at a sack on third down, but Williams escaped and ran for 14 yards and a first down.

On the game-winning play, the Bengals pushed the pocket and cornerback Dax Hill came on a blitz, but everyone was a step late in affecting Williams.

“His back foot hit, and the ball was released,” Golden said. “I think if we could've had him hold it for one count, we could have got the ball to a checkdown, used up some time.

“We didn't do it.”

Even if the pass rush were the same and Newton still took the outside leverage instead of playing inside of Loveland, it wouldn’t have been a guaranteed loss.

Had Battle and/or Stone gotten Loveland on the ground, the Bears would have had to run 25 yards up field, get set and spike the ball with at least a second left on the clock.

And Chicago kicker Cairo Santos, who had already had one kick blocked and missed another (but was bailed out on an offsides call against the Bengals) would have had to make about a 53-yard field goal.

But when Loveland bounced off Battle, everyone knew what it meant.

What was Battle thinking in that moment?

“Like everybody probably felt – sad, frustrated,” he said. “But you have to move on from it. "