The Cincinnati Bengals found a new way to lose Saturday night with personal foul penalties on linebacker Vontaze Burfict for an illegal hit and cornerback Adam Jones for unsportsmanlike conduct. The two penalties gave the Pittsburgh Steelers 30 yards and led to a chip-shot game-winning field goal.
Jones left the locker room without talking to reporters, but he posted a video on his Instagram account blasting the penalty call.
"The (expletive) ref did a horrible (expletive) job," Jones said. "You got (Steelers linebacker coach) Joey Porter in the middle of the (expletive) field talking (expletive) to everybody and then when somebody says something to him ... he isn't even supposed to be on the (expletive) field."
Jones later deleted the video and posted a calmer message.
"I'm good now, I've had my 10 minutes," he said. "But I still don't believe I should have got a flag for talking to a coach that's on the field behind the huddle."
The Bengals and Steelers played their third chippy game of the season. After Cincinnati running back Giovani Bernardsuffered a concussion on a helmet-to-helmet hit from Pittsburgh linebacker Ryan Shazier, Jeremy Hill got into a fracas with several Steelers players.
Hill later fumbled with 1:23 remaining in the game, helping set up the Steelers' improbable win. The running back took a different tact than Jones when addressing his role in the devastating loss.
The loss was the Bengals fifth consecutive first-round playoff exit.
