'There's No Excuse' - Zac Taylor, Bengals Won't Blame Key Factor For 2-2 Start

Cincinnati is in the .500 morass.

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor looks on from the sideline in the second quarter of the NFL Week 4 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Cincinnati isn't dropping injury excuses after the 22-17 loss to Jacksonville. The Bengals fell to 2-2 on the season and are in last place in the AFC North with the result.

They only had three healthy receivers by the end of the game and may have to go sign another one off the street this week, with Ja'Marr Chase going through a concussion he suffered early in the loss.

Zac Taylor knows his team was close again to beating a good team, but one thing or another led to their demise. Injuries weren't the only issue, as they had a bunch on defense as well, but that unit played very well.

"Well, Ja'Marr's a big part of the plan, but again, they could have lost one of their better players, and they got to adjust. So I don't want that to be the story," Taylor said. "That's what this league's about: winning or losing, and so there's no excuse, try to go out there and win. We came up a half yard short or whatever it was. It's probably the way the guys put us in position to potentially win the game. We just came up a little short, but we got playmakers on this team.

"So whether we got two receivers in a game, I trust those guys to make plays. Joe (Burrow) obviously trusted them. He gave them some balls and some one-on-one type coverage situations where he trusted them. Mike G(esicki) is playing outside receiver at points. Like these guys just they just wanted to go in the game. They're doing whatever it takes to win."

Cincinnati has its easiest game of the whole season in Week 5 when it travels to face the winless Miami Dolphins, but they have to get right in the coming days and start stacking wins as part of arguably the most competitive division in the NFL this season.

The one-score, clutch moments need to be more sound for a roster that is banged up.

"It's disappointing that we came up short because we had our opportunities and we didn't fully take advantage of them until now we're two and two. We got to own that and bounce back next week," Taylor said.

Cincinnati travels to face Miami next week at 1 p.m. ET.

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