In the fourth quarter of Monday night’s game between the Bengals and Broncos, Cincinnati receiver Ja’Marr Chase approached coach Zac Taylor on the sideline. Chase was gesturing in a way that conveyed his frustrations with another bad performance by the team.
Since starting quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a significant toe injury, the Bengals are 0-2 — and they’ve been outscored, 76-13. On Monday night, Chase was targeted eight times. He caught five passes for 23 yards.
After the game, Taylor downplayed the exchange.
“Ja’Marr Chase, coming off a game like this, is one of my favorite players to deal with, quite frankly,” Taylor told reporters, “because he’s just competitive. He just wants to win, and it comes across as emotional, but that’s just a captain that works his tail off. All he wants to do is win the game. All he wants to do is affect the game, and oftentimes he feels like if, ‘I have the ball in my hand, I can do that,’ and I don’t disagree with him. And we’re always looking for ways to get him the ball. Obviously, sometimes for him, he can’t see what’s going on in the backfield and some of the challenges that face back there, but I love Ja’Marr. When I’m done coaching, he will be one of my all time favorites for the way that he has . . . become the total pro that you want leading your football team in competing in practice and competing in games, I can’t say enough about him. . . . It just comes from a place where ‘I want to help the team win, I can help the team win, help me, help the team win.’ And I love that about him.”
The problem is that things won’t be getting any easier. Next week, the Bengals host the Lions. Then, Cincinnati faces the Packers in Green Bay. Then the Steelers come to town.
