With All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (concussion) lost in the game's first 18 minutes and running mate Tee Higgins (abductor) gone in the last five minutes, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow nearly turned Gatorade into wine during the final twists and turns of Sunday's 22-17 loss to the Jaguars before another all-time top 10 Paycor Stadium crowd of 66,625.

Throwing for 29 yards to wide receiver Mitch Tinsley, who was in Houston last week, throwing for 15 yards to wide receiver Dohnte Meyers, who was in Canada last year, and throwing 18 yards to tight end Mike Gesicki, who was playing Higgins' spot in the last drive, Burrow transported the Bengals from their own 17 with 1:44 left to just inside the Jacksonville 12 in 54 seconds.

But that was half-a-yard shy and the game was over.

"We were just short and that's how it goes," said Burrow, who ended up with one of the biggest passing days of his career with one of his most improbable lineups that was, at the end of the day, missing his top three receivers and fourth-round pick Cobie Young.

Burrow's 428 yards tied for his fourth-biggest game, he completed 39 balls, tied for his second-most completions, and threw it 54 times for his third-most attempts.

But there's just one he wants back, and it's a rarity. Burrow, who came into Sunday with just five red-zone interceptions since 2022, threw one on the second play of the fourth quarter when linebacker Foyesade Oluokun jumped Tinsley over the middle at the 10 and the Jags up, 16-10.

"We know we had some chances. We had some chances. We played well for the most part. We've got to find a way to not turn the ball over there, specifically the one in the red zone. That's the one I'm the most upset about," Burrow said. "That's just a bad play by me. I got pressured and was trying to get rid of it and didn't see (Oluokun)."

Ja'Marr Concussed

Chase left with a concussion with 12:04 left in the second quarter when Burrow hit him with a swing pass at the Jags 29, where cornerback Jarrian Jones grabbed him by the face mask and was then drilled in the head by linebacker Ventrell Miller.

This is a guy who doesn't get hurt. He hasn't missed a game since a late-season 2023 game in Pittsburgh with a shoulder injury.

"Obviously, Ja'Marr's the best receiver in the world," said Gesicki, who had another touchdown to go with three catches for 40 yards. "When you lose him, it loses the way we call our offense. Sometimes we use him as eye candy and the other times we're calling it to get him the ball."

Chase left with three catches for 27 yards and had the longest play at that point with a 17-yarder.

"Ja'Marr is a big part of the plan. They could have lost one of their better players and they have to adjust (too)," said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor.

Playing Tee Ball

Is there anyone hotter in the NFL than Tamaurice "Tee," Higgins?"

Not after Sunday's scalding 157-yard effort. Higgins was so good, he even made a balletic, floating catch on the sideline for 19 yards with 5:10 left, and then couldn't get off the field with an abductor injury that sidelined him for all but one play the rest of the way.

"He knew the situation we were in. He just couldn't do it," said Taylor of the play Higgins came back. "He went out there to run one basic (play) and I could tell (he couldn't go). I mean, all eyes were on him when he was running the route. He couldn't do it, but that's just who he is. We played the Chiefs a couple years ago. He pulled his hamstring, he went back in the game. Tee's just going to fight for you. He saw the bind we were in, and he was trying to help us."

The bind was real. On second-and-10 from the Jags 21, they put Gesicki in Higgins' spot on a play he had never run but was designed for the same kind of body type. Gesicki beat cornerback Travis Hunter down the seam and was wide open, but the ball was in the wrong spot.

"Because of personnel shuffling, normally that's Tee running that," Gesicki said. "I felt the corner heavy inside. I'm supposed to cross his face. I didn't. I learned that one on the sideline. It just is what it is. There's no excuse for things like that. I was just trying to make a play."

Brown Just Short Of The Chase

Running back Chase Brown caught a personal-best 11 balls on all of his 11 targets for 71 yards. But he sure wishes it was 72. On fourth-and-and-10, Brown does what he does and beat the linebacker, Oluokun, on a slant. But safety Rayuan Lane III upended Brown just before the line-to-gain.

"I just tried to pick a shoulder to run through and kind of felt like I had people around me, so I knew the scenario," Brown said. "I can just run to a shoulder and get that extra yard. But unfortunately, we were short."

Slants and Screens

The Bengals were also down in the secondary, where safety Bryan Cook (ankle), backup safety Kyle Dugger (quad) and slot cornerback Jalen Davis (hamstring) were out. PJ Jules, a special teams ace who played eight snaps last year, got his first NFL start at safety. Practice squad safety Russ Yeast, who didn't play last season, rotated with him. And except for wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.'s wide-open seven-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence for the first touchdown of the game, cornerback Dax Hill thought the communication held up.

"You never know when your number is going to be called. I was proud of them," Hill said. "There are certain things we have to talk about, but for most of the game I think we were good. I felt like we were  cohesive." …

Hill, DJ Turner II and DJ Ivey held big Jags gun Parker Washington, their slot receiver, to one catch for seven yards on three targets …

Plus, when they absolutely had to get the ball back, they did when defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II had his third fourth-quarter sack in two weeks, and on third down Turner got Washington out of bounds to force a punt to set up Burrow with 1:44 left.

"I felt like when our defense was on the field, we were going to get stops. And I know they got us on the touchdown there on the last run, but I thought (the safeties) fought for us," Taylor said, "and I had confidence they were going to get some stops. They got us a stop there at the end and gave us a chance to go win the game." …

The guy who killed them was tight end Brenton Strange and his career day over the middle for 95 yards on seven catches. No other Jags receiver had 50 as Lawrence hit 18 of 23 passes while he relied on his running game for 111 yards on 27 carries …

That was a big storyline after the game. The Jags defense threw around their physicality as they held Chase Brown to 10 yards on nine carries and the Bengals for 23 yards on 15 carries. One of those yards was Burrow's sneak to cut the lead to 22-17 with 3:28 left.

"It's not a (number of) reps thing," Brown said. "We're going to get better. That's a good defense. They just played better than us in the run game" …

The Jags asserted their physicality all day. The first big play of the game was a missed tackle on the second series, when Bengals safety Jordan Battle couldn't bring down Strange in the middle of the field for a 23-yard gain that led to a 3-0 Jags lead.

"We have to get that ball on the ground," Taylor said.

Then the game ended on Lane's sure tackle of Brown …