Bengals Beat: Why Bengals Are Wise To Take It Easy With Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow MVP Chances

CINCINNATI — As we learned last year with Ja’Marr Chase and his hip injury, the Bengals aren’t about to take any undue risks with a superstar piece of their puzzle.

Chase missed four games last season when he suffered a fractured hip against the New Orleans Saints and re-aggravated it when he tried to play through it against the Atlanta Falcons a week later.

While there’s no indication of anything more than soreness from his fall to the turf in the third quarter Sunday night, the Bengals will certainly monitor his condition closely and likely err on the side of caution.

Chase did not practice Wednesday and he received treatment for it on Monday. Chase will receive lots of treatment this week and then see how it responds.

“He’s sore,” Zac Taylor said Wednesday. “He’ll be limited if he does anything.”

What do Bengals coaches and trainers need to see from him through the week to play on Sunday?

“Just if he’s feeling better,” Taylor said. “So we’ll just work through the week and see where he is at.”

Taylor said the team is not trying to balance his availability based on playing a critical AFC North game against Baltimore on a short week on Nov. 16.

“We don’t focus too much on that,” Taylor said. “We’re just focused on Houston right now.”

“I’m good. I’m alive. That’s the best thing right now,” Chase said Monday. “I fell on my back. So as of right now, that’s all I know for sure. It’s pretty sore just moving around so I’m good, though.”

Chase said, much like last season, if he doesn’t play, he will be engaged with his teammates.

“Be a good teammate, Support my guys,” Chase said. “Tee stepped up. So I mean that’s what we want right there. But you know, all I can do is protect the team and get healthy.”

Chase was the one giving advice to Burrow to take his time coming back when the quarterback strained his calf back in July. Burrow isn’t going to be quite as aggressive with Chase.

“Let him do his thing. If he feels like he can go, then I’m gonna trust him, and if he doesn’t, I’m gonna trust him as well,” Burrow said. “We’ll see as the game gets closer.”

Injury tolls:

In addition to the Chase injury news, the Bengals are closely monitoring other injuries to starters, including another to a star receiver. Tee Higgins appeared on the injury report with a hamstring injury Wednesday, and was limited in practice. Higgins has already dealt with a rib injury this season, forcing him to miss the win in Arizona. Sam Hubbard is dealing with an ankle issue and did not practice Wednesday. Cam Taylor-Britt tweaked his quad Sunday night but was a full participant Wednesday, as was Charlie Jones, who was cleared to return to practice from his thumb injury.

MVP Talk:

Joe Burrow has moved into fifth place in the MVP odds race on FanDuel Sportsbook. Burrow, at +900, is behind Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson and Tua Tagovailoa, with Mahomes the favorite at +240. Burrow finished fourth last year behind Mahomes, Hurts and Josh Allen.

Does Burrow want to add that piece of hardware to his collection, that already includes a Heisman?

“Yeah, eventually. It’s tough. Everything has to go right for you to win that award,” Burrow said. “You usually have to have the best record. A lot of things play into it. I’d like to win one eventually. But it’s not No. 1 on my list for sure.”

Certainly, he’d get the vote of everyone in the locker room if they had one, including his receiving corps.

“Absolutely. I think he’s been playing lights out,” said Tyler Boyd. “We’ve got Chase down and Drei (Andrei Iosivas) could come in and we could still win games. That’s how good Joe is. He knows how to exploit different coverages. He knows how to beat man coverage. He makes everybody’s job easier when you’ve got a guy like that on the team.”

Boyd, like everyone else, could see a difference when Burrow took the field against Arizona and started to move like his last two seasons.

“That’s the Joe I’m used to seeing,” Tyler Boyd said. “That first game when we started to get it rolling, he’s started getting better and better, the real Joe is back. He’s back to where he was on the Super Bowl run the last two years.”

Locked in for Houston:

Zac Taylor feels confident that his team will not be overlooking the Houston Texans this week, with the AFC North-leading Ravens on deck just four days later.

“I know this team will be locked in for Houston.” Taylor insisted. “It’s a really good opponent. We’ve got to win this game. I’ve got confidence. Those guys are proving that to us time and time again. I don’t think this week will be any different.”