Bengals Go Down for Count

So, how would the NFL’s worst team blow this one? More goal-line follies? A left-handed pass, perhaps? Maybe a fumble or interception?

Nope. This time, the Cincinnati Bengals flunked math.

Because the Bengals couldn’t get the right number of players on the field for a punt return, the Jacksonville Jaguars got the second chance they needed for a 29-15 victory Sunday.

A crowd of about 30,000, the smallest at Paul Brown Stadium, watched Mark Brunell throw a season-high three touchdown passes, the last one set up by Cincinnati’s inability to count.

“That was a major error,” Bengal Coach Dick LeBeau said. “We’ve got coaches counting, we’ve got players counting, and we still can’t count to 11.”

Trying to hold a third-quarter lead, the Bengals (1-13) left 12 men on the field when Jacksonville (6-8) punted into the end zone. The Jaguars accepted the penalty, which set up fourth and one, and sent the offense back onto the field.

Stacey Mack ran eight yards for the first down, and the Jaguars faced a fourth-and-six situation four plays later. They went for it again, and Jimmy Smith ran past Jeff Burris and hauled in Brunell’s pass for a 26-yard touchdown.

It put the Jaguars ahead to stay and set the Bengals on their way to tying a franchise record for losses in a season.

“It always comes down to: We shoot ourselves in the foot,” safety Cory Hall said. “You put 12 men on the field -- that’s high school, that’s college, that’s peewee. Every team does it, but when we do it, it’s usually at a critical part of the game. It’s mind-boggling. It seems like it only happens to us.”