The Cincinnati Bengals made the Super Bowl in 2022 on the leg of Evan McPherson. He made every kick in the postseason to lift them to their first conference title in over 30 years. On Sunday, the kicker missed two tries that would have given the Bengals the lead against the Chargers. Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase expressed their frustration with McPherson postgame, as captured by Oliva Ray of WLWT.

When asked what he would say to McPherson after the game, Burrow said “nothing.” The next question was about the Bengals' season as a whole and the answer can be seen as a shot at the kicker. “Just gotta make the plays, gotta make the plays. We had them down the stretch and we're not a good enough team to…our margin of error is slim so we've gotta make those plays. I've gotta make those plays, we all gotta make those plays.”

Ja'Marr Chase was asked a similar question in the locker room about McPherson. “I didn't tell him nothing. He knows to make those kicks. That's why we pay him those bucks, to make those kicks in crunch time.”

The Bengals scored two touchdowns to tie the game in the second half after a brutal first half. That was when McPherson missed the first field goal, a 48-yarder that would have put them up 30-27. After another Chargers punt, McPherson had another chance to take the lead and missed a 51-yarder.

The Bengals must win out to make the playoffs

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Last year, the Bengals surprisingly missed the playoffs. After a three-year run of great regular seasons, injuries caught up to them and cost them a spot in the postseason. The hope was that it was an aberration and they were going to roll through the regular season this season. It has not gone that way, largely because of their poor defense.

Their defense was carved up by Justin Herbert in the first half and faced a 24-6 deficit in the final two quarters. They held the Chargers without a touchdown for all of 18 seconds of the final two quarters and gave Burrow time to cook. Given that time, he hit Chase and Tee Higgins for big completions and mounted the comeback. The defense and offense gave McPherson a chance two separate times to give the Bengals the lead. He could not do it.

We have seen kickers win and lose games for teams this season. The Bengals have not been at the forefront of that until this game. Now, there is a massive kicker problem in Cincinnati.