Since Joe Burrow declared the playoffs “doable” for the Ja’Marr Chase and then-3-5 Cincinnati Bengals, they have gone 1-2. But sometimes elite quarterback play cannot lift a bad team all by itself, and once again, the Bengals proved to have too many holes elsewhere.
Now sitting at 4-7 and two games back in the race for the final Wild Card spot, those hopes are quickly slipping away. And the frustration is clearly mounting, as we have seen from Chase. After losing another last-minute affair Sunday night, when asked what the Bengals can do to close out games, he deferred.
“How do I do it? I don’t know”, Chase said, according to Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “Ask Zac [Taylor]. Ask the coaches — don’t ask me. That’s not my job”.
Chase is technically right, of course, that it’s not a wide receiver’s job to figure out how to win games. And it’s certainly not the case that Chase is part of the reason that they’re losing. He has done his part time and again, coming away with two more touchdowns last night. But the Bengals still lost, 34-27, to the Los Angeles Chargers.
In fact, last night marked the fifth game this season in which the Bengals scored 25-plus points and lost. That’s tied for the third-most such losses in a season, and one away from tying the all-time record. And all Ja’Marr Chase has done this season is ring his price tag up for next season.
Of course he wants to stay with Joe Burrow, but how else will the Bengals keep him happy? Zac Taylor has to figure out how to right this ship, even if this season is lost. After all, they managed to post a winning record without Burrow for much of last year. But the defense is not holding up its end, so guys like Chase who are doing everything they can are tired of it.
“I play football on the field. I don’t call plays for us, so I can’t really do nothing”, Chase said about how the Bengals can finish more games. “Honestly, I don’t know, man. I have no clue. I still believe in the guys in this locker room, though. We’ve just got to find ways to finish”.
The Bengals even had Tee Higgins back for this game, and he caught nine passes for 148 yards and a touchdown. They have struggled to keep all hands on deck, Burrow and Chase the constants during the year.
And the numbers are impressive, make no mistake. Joe Burrow has 3,028 passing yards and 27 touchdowns to four interceptions, leading the NFL. Ja’Marr Chase has 1,056 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, which also both lead the league. George Pickens also moved into third in receiving yards, by the way.
But you can understand the frustration from Chase. And it doesn’t help that Bengals HC Zac Taylor doesn’t have the answers, either. Of course he doesn’t, because if he did, they would be winning these games.
