On a pass to Ja’Marr Chase in the corner of the end zone, the ball had a 12.5% chance of being completed. Chase had 0.6 yards of separation. He was 0.2 yards from the sideline. He caught it for a touchdown, Cincinnati’s first in 20 possessions. It was a beautiful, impossible play. A minor miracle. And it meant absolutely nothing. However, the Bengals still got throttled by the Lions , 37-24, and that single moment of brilliance only served to highlight the mess surrounding it. The architect of that mess, at least on this particular Sunday, was Jake Browning .

And now, his coach is having a very public, very delicate crisis of faith. After the game, Zac Taylor stood at the podium and did the verbal dance every coach in his position has to. He said all the right things, but

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