For the third straight week, the Patriots looked like they forgot about the opening kickoff time, putting forth an abysmal effort that got them into a massive hole.
The second half was their most inspired effort of the season. Unfortunately, they wasted that, too.
A rousing fourth-quarter comeback ended in disaster with a late Rhamondre Stevenson fumble, and the Patriots' last-ditch attempt at the end zone fell short as the Patriots' season officially went on life support with a 22-18 loss to Cincinnati.
New England showed plenty of fight in battling back from a 22-0 first-half hole, but the team's penchant for making big mistakes at the worst times hurt it again with had a chance to change the course of the season.
Here are the takeaways from this one.
Don't blame this one on Mac Jones
As much as fans want to blame everything on Jones (no surprise there), he frankly wasn't given much of a chance to do anything useful in the first half of this game.
It was more of the stuff we couldn't stand: sacks on plays with deep routes and no checkdowns; screen passes where none of his receivers knew they were running a screen; and even a perfect deep ball to Tyquan Thornton that was dropped in the second quarter.
The "We want Zappe" chants were back in full force despite the fact that Jones really didn't do anything particularly wrong.
No one was calling for him to be benched by the end, though.
Jones threw two second-half touchdowns and repeatedly made big plays to give the Patriots a shot. He even proved he could actually throw a "Hail Mary" of sorts, with his desperation heave on 3rd-and-forever ending up in the arms of Jakobi Meyers for a fortunate touchdown.
But New England took the ball out of his hands with the offense inside the 10-yard line with less than a minute to play as it tried to burn clock, and the Stevenson fumble took away his chance to finally play the hero.
Then, the frustration he'd been holding in all game came out in an unnecessary roughness penalty after that play was over -- 15 crucial yards that made the offense's desperation drive at the end a little tougher.
If there's anything positive to take from this one, Jones proved he's far from broken, playing his best football when the chips were down in a must-win game. If the Patriots' offense wasn't such a mess in the first half, maybe this outcome is a bit different.
Offense rediscovers Kendrick Bourne
You mean the Patriots could've been balling with Bourne this whole time?!
After largely being MIA for various reasons this season, Bourne put on his Superman cape and almost singlehandedly ignited the Patriots offense with the kinds of big plays he became known for last year.
His highlights: a 29-yard end-around in the second quarter; a leaping third-down conversion over the middle on a trust ball from Jones in the fourth; a back-line touchdown catch a few plays after that; and an unbelievable toe-tapping grab along the sideline on a play initially ruled incomplete.
It's not like anyone else called for this all season or anything…
Bourne finished with 100 yards receiving -- his first career 100-yard game -- those 29 rushing yards and that receiving touchdown.
If the Patriots are smart, they won't forget about him again.
Marcus Jones, defense do it again
The defense has done its job to keep the Patriots in games the last few weeks by taking the ball away and scoring touchdowns. This time, it was Marcus Jones' time to get into the act.
Some all-out pressure on Burrow forced him to uncork a trust throw to Chase early, and the two weren't on the same page. All Jones had to do was camp under the ball, catch it and beat Burrow's tackle attempt down the sideline for a 69-yard score.
It was New England's sixth defensive score of the year and their third consecutive week with a defensive touchdown.
They've needed every last one of them, too, with the way the offense has played.
Just generally, give the defense a ton of credit for stymying the Bengals for much of the second half after giving up 22 points in the first two quarters. They could've folded after allowing more than 300 yards in the first half, but they kept the team in this one with a shutout second half.
