Costly penalties don’t lead to fines for two Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals played good enough to win Sunday, but mistakes and dumb penalties doomed them vs the Chicago Bears in a game they lost by a mere three points.

Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick drew a critical 15-yard penalty for a personal foul that set up Chicago’s 58-yard field goal to close the first-half.

The worst offense though effectively iced the game. With the Bears set to punt the ball with 1:06 to go, middle linebacker Rey Maualuga, who was voted a team captain last season, threw a Bears player to the ground, drawing a penalty that let Chicago run out the clock.

While both offenses were costly concerning the outcome of the game, neither was egregious enough to cost them any game-checks:

Both Kirkpatrick and Maualuga exchanged words and pushes with a defender, letting it escalate until they were penalized. Alas, those are tow key players who need to show better composure if they want to help lead the Bengals to a playoff victory for the first time in two decades.