EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Cincinnati Bengals spent all week preparing for the worst outcome against the New York Jets.

And yet, it happened anyway. The sobering lesson the Bengals desperately wanted to avoid smacked them in the face Sunday at MetLife Stadium. The Jets, massive underdogs, rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat Cincinnati 34-31 in an outcome Cincinnati saw coming.

On the surface, the defeat seems improbable given the circumstances. But this type of loss was likely inevitable.

In a matter of a few weeks, Cincinnati transformed from an AFC afterthought to one of the best teams in the conference. But Sunday, the Bengals learned that playing with a target on their collective backs means paying a steep price for a dull performance — a horrible loss to a team like the Jets.

“We’ve never been in this position where we’re now the hunted,” Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard said. “We’ve always been the hunters. They were more hungry than we were today, and I think it’s a valuable lesson that we learned in our process.”

All week, Cincinnati (5-3) talked about avoiding a big letdown against the struggling Jets (2-6), who had one win entering the day and had backup quarterback Mike White making his first NFL start.

Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he looked for signs throughout the week that Cincinnati was riding a bit too high following a 24-point defeat of the Baltimore Ravens, the team’s biggest win in Taylor’s three-year tenure.

Cincinnati knew that on paper, the Jets were a proverbial trap game. Bengals running back Joe Mixon suggested that might have played a key factor in the road loss.

“We knew what type of game it was going to be,” Mixon said. “They talk about ‘trap game, this, this and that,’ but I felt like things were just spoken into existence, to be honest.”

Of the many numbers that indicate how crushing a loss this is for the Bengals, two stick out. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Sunday’s loss as an 11.5-point favorite was the fourth-biggest upset in franchise history. And White joined Cam Newton as the second quarterback since 1950 to throw for more than 400 yards in his first start.

Taylor said the Bengals were outcoached, outplayed, tackled poorly and lacked attention to details. Bengals safety Jessie Bates III didn’t have the answers as to why.

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow, who was 21 of 34 passing for 259 yards, three touchdowns and a batted pass that turned into an interception, spoke about the perils of not being sharp, even against a struggling team like the Jets.

“We just have to come in focused every single day,” Burrow said. “If we come out flat, every team in this league can beat any team. We can’t come out flat.”

In the postgame news conference, there was no direct admission that the Bengals let the feelings of the Baltimore win linger too long. But that was never denied, either.

Mixon, Bates and wide receiver Tyler Boyd addressed the reporters jointly to show they were angry about what happened in the Meadowlands, to display accountability and portray a united front after a bad loss.

“These are guys that have been here,” Bates said of the trio after the game. “We’ve been through the bad part of this organization and we know that we got the right guys in here to do the right things.”

Throughout the season, Cincinnati has learned what comes with being a good team on the fly. The hard lesson the Jets dished out Sunday doesn’t change anything. The Bengals want to be the ones being hunted.

“It’s a wake-up call for sure," Hubbard said. “Any team can beat anybody on any given Sunday, and we learned today a very valuable lesson that won't be forgotten."

Now it’s up to the Bengals to prove that.