CINCINNATI — Ja’Marr Chase has seen this movie before. He’s seen it too many times.
In 2023, the Bengals lost Joe Burrow in Week 11 in Baltimore and lost the game to fall to 5-5. They lost the next week to the Steelers at home and limped to the finish line at 9-8. Last season, they started 1-4 and were 4-8 before winning their final five games to finish 9-8 again, and again just missed the playoffs.
Now, the Bengals sit 3-6 but with a massive opportunity this week in Pittsburgh. If they go into Pittsburgh and somehow find a way to win the game, not only will they be just a game behind the Steelers in the AFC North, they’ll hold the season series, stand 3-0 in the division and actually have the inside track to the division if they can hold serve and split against Baltimore and beat Cleveland.
A must-win scenario Sunday?
“Yeah, it’s must-win if you want to win the AFC (North), 100 percent,” Chase said.
Now, the challenge stands before the Bengals. The 5-4 Steelers. The 9-2 Patriots. The Ravens, Bills and Ravens again, all in a five-week stretch.
“It’ll take a lot of will to do that,” said Chase, as one of three offensive captains. “Just being positive as I can. I’m trying to get everybody on board. Just practice the same practice hard, come to come to work the same every day, consistency, and just trying to get all the guys on the same page and just know we all want the same thing. So we got to all wanted the same desire and work for it.”
Last year at 4-8, many thought the Bengals would start to pack it in and get ready for 2025. The Bengals did not have that same thought process in the locker room.
“I mean a whole bunch of ways you can look at it,” Chase told me. “It’s the NFL, also. We’re getting put in these situations for a reason, to see how tough we are on the back end. So, as long as guys come together, and as long as we focus, at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.”
Would Chase say the team is still together?
“Yeah, I don’t think nobody is spreading apart, or anything like that,” he said.
Tee Higgins shared the same sentiment as Chase coming out of the bye.
“Just keep believing in who we are. Don’t let all the losses and all the critics from the outside world affect us from being who we are. We’ve just gotta go out there and just keep playing our game,” Higgins said. “(There) is a lot of season left (if) we win this. We’ve got three more games in the division. So you just got to keep being who we are at the end of the day. So, definitely is a must-win, so we could be in sitting in good shoes.”
Higgins has played a key role in the upswing of the offense with Joe Flacco, who will be making his fifth start since taking over for Jake Browning as Joe Burrow’s backup. Higgins had seven catches on nine targets for 121 yards and two touchdowns in the 47-42 loss to the Bears. He has four touchdown catches in the last three games with Flacco.
Higgins has been a big part of Cincinnati’s ability to apply pressure to opposing defenses.
“Just keep applying pressure, playing complementary football. That’s what we got to do in order to win these games,” Higgins said. “We can do everything in the world, but if we’re not playing complementary football, all sides of the ball, special teams, offense and defense. It ain’t gonna matter we if we lose.”
Chase and Higgins were both surprised this week when Joe Burrow suited up and was back on the field practicing this week, starting his 21-day window for being activated from the injured list-designated to return.
“It feels good having him out there,” said Chase who offered up this little nugget – he enjoys busting the chops of his favorite quarterback. “I like messing with him now that he’s back. I can’t usually do that when he was injured. But just having him out there, it’s just best for everybody. I’m saying the energy feels good for the whole offense, just making sure he’s back. So, he definitely put smiles on people’s faces.”
What kind of messing does Chase do with him?
“I bump him, head-butt him, punch him, whatever I can actually,” Chase said. “Make him like a little brother. I like bullying him a little bit.”
Does Burrow hit back?
“Once I start throwing punches, that’s when he’s interested into fighting,” Chase said. “He likes UFC. I just think he liked the motion of punching and kicking. He’s such a UFC fighter.”
Tee Higgins wasn’t interested in punching or head-butting Burrow. He was just happy to get the word from Chase that Burrow was back on the field this week.
“Yeah, it caught me off guard,” Higgins said. “I came in the locker room and he was like, you see Nine? I was like, ‘What is he doing?’ He was like, ‘S–t, he’s practicing? I was like, ‘Oh, snap.’ So it caught me off guard too… I mean just having your guy out there. I mean, obviously, the (team) energy was high, just seeing them out there, just throwing around, running around and looking good. So just overall happy for him.”
