Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor knew his club had to be aggressive Thursday night in Baltimore. The coach came out in the first quarter and went for it on fourth down and stuck to his plan. He opted to go for two points and the lead after a late touchdown instead of a tying extra point.

The calculation was correct, but the toss from Joe Burrow to Tanner Hudson flew wide and the Bengals fell 35-34. Taylor had no doubts about his choice.

“We came here to win,” he said via the team’s official website. “We had our chance. We went out there, went for two, and it just didn’t work for us. This team will continue to put us in good positions, there will come a point in the season where that turns. We will go from this game on respond appropriately.”

An explosive back-and-forth saw the Ravens erase a 21-7 third-quarter lead in the blink of an eye. Cincinnati’s defense allowed Lamar Jackson to slice it up like a Thanksgiving bird. Baltimore scored touchdowns on its last four possessions. The inability to get a stop colored Taylor’s decision to go for two. Instead of allowing a potential coin flip in overtime to decide his team’s fate, Taylor left the ball in Burrow’s hand.

Taylor said he knew before the touchdown that he would get within one point and try to take the lead.

“Yes. There’s a time situation where I can’t go into the details, but there’s a chance you might get a three-and-out, get the ball back when you’ve just tied it, and you’re going to make a play… .winning field goal,” he said. “It didn’t feel like we were going to get the ball again.”

There was no argument from the stars.

“We knew the situation we were in,” Burrow said of choosing two.

“Yep. I agree 100 percent,” Ja’Marr Chase added.

The star wideout had a ridiculous night, generating 11 catches for 264 yards and three touchdowns. He became the first player to have multiple games with over 250 receiving yards and over 2 receiving TDs in NFL history. Twice the Bengals had one-play drives in which Burrow hit Chase for an explosive play. First came a 67-yard catch and run, then a 70-yard bomb.

However, Burrow did not target Chase on the final two-point play.

When asked if he was open on the two-pointer, the wideout replied: “Yes, I’m always open.”

Earlier in the game, Burrow took a deep shot instead of hitting Chase, who appeared to get open, on a fourth-and-2. Those were tough spots not to target the star receiver, but the Bengals trust their star QB’s decision-making.

“There’s always progression,” Taylor said when asked about the two-point play not going to Chase. Most of our stuff is for Ja’Marr Chase. Once again the progression begins, and he was in that progression. I would say (Joe Burrow) makes some pretty good decisions. I assume we went there, but we have to look at the tapes to see what happened.”

The two-point play also involved potential penalties that were not called, including Burrow being contacted with the face mask. For his part, the QB didn’t complain about not getting any flags.

“You usually don’t get that call in that situation,” he said. “I never really got those calls. You don’t expect to get it.’

Taylor tapped his hand on the first drive of the game and went for it on fourth down instead of making a chip shot field goal. The Bengals got the flag on that play, extended the drive and scored a touchdown. The sprint had begun. Taylor’s squad went 2-of-4 on fourth downs in the game.

After the Week 5 shootout loss to the Ravens, Cincy knew it had to be aggressive to beat Baltimore. The Bengals offense played well enough, but Jackson, the MVP frontrunner, made a few more plays.

“Yes, it’s a tough pill to swallow,” Burrow said. “You feel like you’re playing well enough to win, but you’re not. It’s frustrating.”

The Bengals lost despite leading by more than 14 points, their second loss under Taylor – before Week 10, they were 28-1 when leading by more than 14 points in a game.

“We lost the turnover battle 1-0. I think that was big, you know, it was 21-7 at that point, when we gave them seven points on the fumble, they had the big play, and then it was kind of went back and forth from there,” he said. “(The Ravens) are just a good football team, but we expected to come here and win. We did everything we could to do that. (The loss) doesn’t change the fact that I’m proud. I think that everyone on the field fought (and) gave us a chance. We also came from a good team, and it’s sickening that this happened to us twice.”

At 4-6, the Bengals are ranked 9th in the AFC ahead of this weekend’s games. The race for a playoff spot isn’t over yet, but it’s getting dark late in Cincinnati.