Winners and Losers From the Bengals' Overtime Loss to the 49ers

Cincinnati falls to 7-6 after Sunday's loss to San Francisco.

Author:
Blake Jewell
Publish date:
Dec 12, 2021 8:43 PM EST

CINCINNATI — The Bengals lost a tough game to the 49ers in overtime on Sunday.

Here are our winners and losers from the game.

Winners

Trey Hendrickson

Although he was injured and missed most of the game, he recorded an early sack, extending his streak of consecutive games with a sack to a team-record nine games. His status is in question for Week 15, but he’s been a home run signing for the Bengals.

Joe Burrow

The Bengals quarterback brought them back into this game. They didn’t finish it out, but Burrow overcame protection issues and gave his team a chance to win.

He completed 25-of-34 passes for 348 yards and two touchdowns.

Ja'Marr Chase

Burrow found Chase for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to force overtime. The 21-year-old has 10 scores this year, which is a Bengals rookie record.

He may have his flaws, but Chase is a special player.

Losers

Darius Phillips

In a game filled with mistakes, Phillips had a horrific first half, muffing two punts and handing the 49ers points that put the Bengals in a hole early on. It’s pretty evident after today's game that the team will need to address the punt return position in some way moving forward.

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Pass Protection

A lot of the pass protection falls on the offensive line, but not all of it. This team collectively fails to block for Burrow on key plays. There were a few crucial moments in this game where he didn’t have a chance to make a play because he was immediately swarmed by defenders. This has to change if the Bengals want any chance at making the playoffs.

Jessie Bates

Plain and simple, Jessie Bates isn’t having close to the season he had last year. He had an opportunity to set the Bengals up for the win with an interception late in the 4th quarter. He needs to improve tremendously if he wants to get paid this offseason.

Zac Taylor

While fumbles were what held the team back the most, the play calling was very confusing against the 49ers. With San Francisco’s secondary being extremely thin, it was confusing as to why the Bengals kept running the ball in key situations. The biggest question mark of the day was when he opted to run the ball three-straight times on the Bengals' first possession of the second half.

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