The bungling Bengals are wasting prolific seasons from their biggest stars

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The Cincinnati Bengals’ stars are performing at an extremely high level.

Joe Burrow leads the NFL in yards passing and TD passes, Ja’Marr Chase is on pace for a rare receiving triple crown, and Trey Hendrickson has more sacks than any other player.

Sounds like a recipe for success.

Unfortunately for the Bengals, it hasn’t worked out that way so far.

Cincinnati is mired in 10th place in the AFC with a 4-7 record despite having a chance to become the first team since sacks became an official stat in 1982 to have the league leader in yards passing, yards receiving and sacks in the same season.

Six of the Bengals losses have come by seven points or fewer thanks to some missed field goals in key spots, defensive breakdowns and no go-ahead TD drives by Burrow and the offense in the fourth quarter.

Burrow became the second QB in NFL history to lose consecutive starts when throwing for at least 350 yards and three TDs without an interception in a 34-27 loss to the Chargers on Sunday night. The Bengals rallied from 27-6 down to tie the score in the fourth before Evan McPherson missed two field goals and the Bengals punted in the final minute to set up the Chargers’ game-winning drive.

Burrow has thrown for 3,028 yards with 27 TDs and four interceptions this season. The seven previous QBs who threw for at least 3,000 yards and 25 TDs with five or fewer interceptions in the first 11 games combined for a 69-8 record compared to Burrow’s 4-7 mark.

Burrow isn’t alone in putting up prolific numbers in Cincinnati with Chase leading the NFL with 73 catches, 1,056 yards and 12 TDs. Only four players since the merger led the NFL in those three categories for an entire season to win the Triple Crown: Cooper Kupp (2021), Steve Smith (2005), Sterling Sharpe (1992) and Jerry Rice (1990).

Hendrickson’s 11 1/2 sacks are the most for any player, ahead of the nine for the Giants’ Dexter Lawrence and Denver’s Nik Bonitto.

Leaping Lions

The Detroit Lions are accomplishing feats that haven’t been done in decades with their 52-6 win over Jacksonville their most dominant one yet.

The Lions outgained the Jaguars 645-170 for the third largest margin in the Super Bowl era. The Rams topped that twice in the 1970s, outgaining the Seahawks by 482 yards on Nov. 4, 1979, and the Falcons by 488 yards on Dec. 4, 1976.

The win improved Detroit to 9-1 for the best record after 10 games for the franchise since the team started 10-0 in 1934.

The Lions fell behind 3-0 before scoring TDs on their first seven possessions, becoming the first team to do that since New England in 2007 against Buffalo. Only two teams in NFL history have won a game they trailed at any point by a larger margin than Detroit did, with Green Bay beating New Orleans 52-3 after falling behind 3-0 in 2005 and the Packers beating the Steelers 54-7 after trailing 7-0 in 1941.

The Lions are the third team in the Super Bowl era to win at least three of their first 10 games by 35 points or more, joining the 1973 Falcons and 1969 Vikings.

Detroit ran for four touchdowns in the game, extending their NFL record with their 24th straight game in the regular season or playoffs with a TD run.

Jared Goff also bounced back from a five-interception performance in Week 10 against Houston by going 24 for 29 for 412 yards, four TDs and a “perfect” passer rating of 158.3. Goff had his second career game with at least 400 yards, four TDs and the highest attainable passer rating of 158.3, having also done it for the Rams against Minnesota in 2018.

There have been only seven of those games in NFL history with Goff the only player to do it multiple times.

Tough Tomlin

Mike Tomlin has made an art out of pulling out wins when his offense can’t reach the end zone.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won for the second time this season without scoring a touchdown, getting six field goals from Chris Boswell in an 18-16 win over Baltimore on Sunday. Boswell also made six field goals in an 18-10 win over Atlanta in Week 1.

The Steelers became the second team in the last 20 seasons to win multiple games in a season without a TD, joining the 2016 Rams.

In all, Tomlin has won five games in his career in the regular season or playoffs when his team doesn’t score a touchdown, one shy of Marv Levy for the most by any coach since 1972. Tomlin’s .333 win percentage when his team doesn’t score a touchdown ranks first in that span among the 73 coaches who have had at least 10 games without a TD.

With one more win or tie, Tomlin will have his 18th straight season without a losing record, trailing only Tom Landry (21 straight seasons) and Bill Belichick (19) for the longest streaks for a coach.

Terrific Taysom

Taysom Hill has built a career as a jack-of-all-trades player on New Orleans’ offense.

The part-time QB, tight end, running back and receiver took it to a new level on Sunday in a win over Cleveland.

Hill ran for 138 yards and three TDs on seven carries, caught eight passes for 50 yards and completed an 18-yard pass to help lead the Saints to the win. Hill became the first player in NFL history to rush for at least 100 yards and three TDs, have at least 50 yards receiving and throw for at least 10 yards.

He did it by lining up all over the Saints offense with 10 snaps from the slot, eight at quarterback, six as a running back, four as a wide receiver and four as a tight end, according to NFL NextGen Stats. He became the first player in the NGS era beginning in 2016 to have at least four snaps at all five of those positions.

Hill’s best work came out of the backfield as he had TD runs of 10, 33 and 75 yards. Only three players since the merger older than Hill (34 years, 86 days) rushed for more yards in a game with John Riggins gaining 165 and 140 in two games at age 35 for Washington in 1984, and 36-year-old MacArthur Lane rushing for 144 yards for Kansas City at Buffalo in 1978.

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