One of the many storylines coming out of last night's back-and-forth tussle between the Bengals and Cardinals was Cincinnati's choice to throw the ball on their final offensive play from scrimmage.

On third-and-2 from the Arizona 25, the Bengals, trailing 31-28, elected to pass. Andy Dalton's downfield toss intended for A.J. Green fell incomplete, stopping the clock. You could argue that the move cost Marvin Lewis' team the game. With a third-down conversion, the Bengals could have either grinded the clock down and kicked a field goal with precious few seconds remaining to set up overtime or, even better, scored a touchdown to go up by four. Instead, Cincinnati kicked a field goal to tie the game at 31 with 1:03 to go, giving the ball back to Carson Palmer, who drove the Cardinals 70 yards in 52 seconds to set up a game-winning field goal by Chandler Catanzaro.

It's unfair to use hindsight and the observed outcome as the sole basis for criticizing a coaching decision, but it is fair to say that the Bengals knew this was one of the things that could happen if they threw the ball on third down. So then, why did Hue Jackson call for a bomb to Green when his offense needed just 2 yards?

From what I can tell, it's because Jackson didn't call for a bomb. It looks very much like the Bengals were expecting to run the football and ended up throwing it instead. Take a look at this still image from the play, at the moment when Dalton was about to release his pass down the sideline to Green.