Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals have experienced both highs and lows at Arrowhead Stadium over the years. Most often, it has been in January while playing the Kansas City Chiefs for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.
This time, however, there wasn’t that kind of finality. But another last-second loss was tough in its own way.
The Bengals had fought hard to take the lead with Evan McPherson’s fourth field goal with just under 10 minutes left.
After their defense forced Kansas City to punt, they were close to making another big stop when a penalty on safety Daijahn Anthony with less than a minute remaining kept the Chiefs’ hopes alive.
A few plays later, Harrison Butker made a 51-yard field goal as time ran out, giving Kansas City a 26-25 win.
“It hurts,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said, “but I’m really proud of the way we fought. We put ourselves in some really good situations in both halves. The defense getting those takeaways was critical.
I’m disappointed that we lost. It was an emotional loss for us. But at the same time, I like where our team’s mental state is right now.”
It was a particularly emotional game for Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase, who had to be restrained by referee Alex Kemp in the fourth quarter after he thought there should have been a penalty for a hip-drop tackle on him.
Burrow physically pulled his wide receiver away as Kemp threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“It’s just simply abusive language toward a game official. That’s all it was,” Kemp said after the game. “There was really no interpretation. I’m not going to repeat to you what he said, but there was no interpretation with the language that he used.”
Kemp said Chase crossed a line when it became “profanity used by grown men versus direct, personal, abusive language towards a game official. That’s the line. When that line gets crossed, we simply can’t let that happen in pro football.”
Chase did not want to talk about the penalty after the game, saying only: “It doesn’t feel great losing.”
