BIG GAME: The Bengals’ Cam Taylor-Britt entered the weekend as Pro Football Focus’ highest-rated cornerback in coverage and found himself stuck with the Commanders’ No. 1 receiver Terry McLaurin when McLaurin made one of the game’s key plays. He darted past Taylor-Britt up the middle late in the first half for a 55-yard pass that put the ball on the Bengals 4 and set up Daniels’ touchdown run that made it 21-10.

“I knew the deep shot was coming, but at the end of the day I’ve got to run,” Taylor-Britt, “You’re on a guy like that. I didn’t get him. I wasn’t in the press, I was gone. He kept me out. I’ve got to get open and run. Good job. You know what kind of receiver he is. I’ll never take that away from him. But it was my technique.”

2^ND-EN-20: According to Burrow, there is one thing the first three weeks have in common: “We had opportunities, but we didn’t take advantage of them.”

The defense had a great shot when they needed to get the ball back with the Bengals trailing 31-26 with 9:42 left.

But they allowed the Commanders to overcome a second-and-20 with three passes of eight, eight and nine yards, the last a fourth-and-four killer with Daniels working against the blitz and finding tight end Zach Ertz for safety Vonn Bell. They didn’t get the ball back until 2:10 left, trailing by 12 points.

Seven times the Commanders offense had third-and-2 or shorter, or fourth-and-2 or shorter. Six times they got first.

“It’s just too manageable. That’s usually a lot better for the offense than it is for the defense,” Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson said. “(Daniels) took what we gave him when he could. The first couple reads, and if it’s not there, just find a way to get a couple yards. And it’s second-and-five and then it’s third-and-two, and third and manageable. We just couldn’t find a way to get them off the chains. We didn’t have TFLs or anything to get them off the track.”

Wilson and fellow back Germaine Pratt led the team with nine tackles each. They both have 33 total tackles this season, tied for the most through the first three weeks of a season by a Bengals player since at least 1987.

Pratt nearly pulled off his signature fourth-quarter turnover on the final drive when he fumbled Ertz on the first play at Washington’s 31-yard line, but an offensive lineman picked the ball up on the ground.

“They scored every time they had it. We’ve got to get a stop. That’s what it came down to,” left end Sam Hubbard said. “It felt like we never had control over their pace and their messy huddle.”

Bengals safety Geno Stone said Daniels’ speed was a factor.

“They rushed us and slowed us down. That’s our fault,” Stone said. “We need to communicate and make sure we’re all on the same page.”

According to Wilson, the Bengals need to get back to winning close games.

“All three games we’ve lost have been by one possession,” Wilson said. “In this league, you’ve got to find a way to win it.”