The Cincinnati Bengals fell to 4-6 on Thursday night with a 35-34 loss to the rival Baltimore Ravens. While the game started slow, it culminated with a 34-point fourth quarter, where the Bengals decided to go for two and the potential win with 38 seconds remaining. Tanner Hudson couldn't reel in Joe Burrow's pass, and the officials may or may not have missed multiple penalties on the play as well.
Burrow was spectacular, as he completed 34 of 56 passes for 428 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. In fact, he's had two of the most improbable losses ever this season.
According to OptaSTATS, there have been two instances in NFL history where a quarterback had 30 passing completions, 300 passing yards, four touchdown passes, multiple 40-yard touchdown passes and no more than one interception, and still lost the game. Those two instances were both Burrow vs. the Ravens this year.
Back in Week 5, the Ravens defeated the Bengals in overtime, 41-38. Burrow completed 30 of 39 passes for 392 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. According to CBS Sports Research, Burrow's nine passing touchdowns are the most in a season series sweep in NFL history.
Burrow said last month 10 wins usually gets you into the playoffs, so Cincinnati had to win seven of its final nine games. The Bengals are 1-1 since Burrow's comments, meaning they may only have one more loss to spare for the year. According to SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh, Cincinnati has a 23.4% chance to make the postseason.
