This League's A Joke

[George Cantstandya]

That call was terrible but it certainly wasn't why the Bengals lost.   They lost because for most of the game they got outplayed by the Jets.   Sure it would have been nice to see what the Bengals could have done at the end of the game in a critical moment.  That last chance for the Bengals to have a shot to comeback and tie or win the game was stolen from them.  There was no guarantee they would have taken advantage of that opportunity though.  

The Bengals earned that loss for the way they played the entirety of the game (especially on defense) and they should have never been in the position where one bad call would hurt their chances to win anyway.  IMO that deflected pass interception was also a significant contribution to the loss because it gave the Jets a very short field for the go ahead TD.  Had that not happened you could say the Bengals would have been able to score again or run out the clock for the win just as much as you could claim the Bengals would have come back and tied or won the game had that bad penalty not been called.

We can play what-ifs all day long.  But the Bengals lost because the Jets played better than them and not because of one call.