Zac Taylor expects fortune to favour the Cincinnati Bengals eventually after they again came up just short in Sunday's 19-17 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens.
The Bengals went to the Super Bowl last year but have a losing 2-3 record through Week 5 in 2022.
However, each of their three defeats have seen Cincinnati lose by a field goal on the final play of the game, going down 23-20 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime in Week 1 and 20-17 to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2.
It was little surprise Justin Tucker similarly punished Taylor's team, with the Ravens kicker executing an NFL-record seventh game-winning field goal with time up.
Of those, this was the fourth – another record – to come with his team losing, as the Bengals failed to protect a late lead having been tied against both the Steelers and the Cowboys.
"It's tough," said coach Taylor. "We've lost three games now on the last play of the game, that's what I told the guys.
"We just have to keep taking our shots, and these things have a way of balancing out, and we are going to get some of these wins in these situations."
That the Bengals were within three points of winning was particularly painful given a hapless third-quarter series from which they failed to score any points.
Cincinnati had first-and-goal from the Baltimore two, but Taylor called two trick plays, seeing wide receiver Tyler Boyd sacked running the Philly Special on second down before Joe Burrow's attempted shovel pass up the middle to Stanley Morgan on fourth down was batted away.
"We felt good about some stuff we called, but obviously it didn't work," Taylor said.
He added: "I felt comfortable with our package going in. When it doesn't work, you wish you would have done something different."
Ja'Marr Chase, whose 12-yard catch brought the Bengals back to the two-yard line after Boyd's sack, said: "It's pretty frustrating.
"We've got to know how to execute coming into that and know which play is going to give us the right play. I don't think we did that."
Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon would later run in a touchdown from the one-yard line in the fourth quarter, but he was pass blocking on both the Philly Special and the shovel pass.
"I'm just running the play that's called," Mixon said.