INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Standing with his arms crossed at his locker, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had no answer as to why the team can’t finish games.

For the umpteenth time this season, Cincinnati saw a potential victory slip away in a 34-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night. Six of Cincinnati’s seven losses were one-possession defeats. While Chase lacked solutions, he did have a potential starting point – ask coach Zac Taylor.

“I play football on the field,” Chase said. “I don’t call plays for us, you know? So I can’t really do anything.’

The Bengals have a .143 winning percentage in one-score games. According to ESPN Research, this ties with the Jacksonville Jaguars having the league’s worst record in such games.

Cincinnati (4-7) was on the verge of being blown out after the Chargers (7-3) got off to a blazing start. Los Angeles led 27-6 with 10:29 left in the third quarter.

That was when the Bengalis organized a rally. Cincinnati scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives to tie the game. Two of them were thrown on fourth down by quarterback Joe Burrow.

But two missed field goals by kicker Evan McPherson paved the way for Chargers running back JK Dobbins’ game-winning touchdown run with 18 seconds left. Had the Bengals won, it would have equaled the greatest comeback in franchise history.

Chase, who came into the game leading the NFL in receiving yards, had seven catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns.

But those statistics seemed hollow in what is becoming a familiar scenario. Chase is averaging 114.4 receiving yards per game and has 10 total touchdowns in Bengals losses this season.

“It doesn’t really matter how well I perform in the end,” Chase said. “Putting up all those numbers and losing is not good.”

Burrow was 28 of 50 passing for 356 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He complained about two missed throws in Chase’s fourth quarter and what he confirmed will be the most frustrating season of his career.

“I just have to make the plays,” Burrow said. “And we’re not there yet. We’re not a good enough team to… our margin for error is small. So we’ve got to make those plays. I’ve got to make those plays. We’ve got to make all those plays.”

In the past, Cincinnati’s ability to close games resulted in two of the most successful seasons in franchise history. In 2021, the Bengals made it to the Super Bowl but lost to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, the site of Sunday’s loss to the Chargers. The following season, Cincinnati lost to Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game in a rematch of the previous year.

Taylor said no wholesale changes need to be made as Cincinnati enters its bye week because of all the small margins of defeat. But it was difficult for Taylor to reconcile.

“This is sickening the way these games end and the way we feel like coming off the field every week,” Taylor said. “The feeling I got when I got to talk to the team in the locker room after all these endings this year.”

And late in the locker room, Chase was among those pining for a solution to a Bengals season pining for missing a second consecutive playoffs.

“I don’t know why we’re not ready,” Chase said. “I don’t know what we’re not doing to give ourselves an advantage to finish.”