Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase out Week 8 and could miss up to six weeks due to nagging hip injury, per report

The Bengals‘ high-flying offense could be taking a step back over the next few weeks and that’s because Ja’Marr Chase is expected to miss some time due to a hip injury. 

Although it’s unclear how long Chase will be out, the All-Pro wide receiver is expected to miss Monday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, according to NFL.com. If Chase only misses one or two games, that would arguably be the best-case scenario for the Bengals, because there’s at least one report that he could be out for more than a month. 

According to ESPN.com, the injury could sideline the Bengals star anywhere from four to six weeks, and if it’s the longer end of that window, Chase would be out until December. Chase was held out of practice on Thursday and at the time, Bengals coach Zac Taylor said it was because the hip was “sore,” but clearly, it’s more than that. 

With Chase possibly staring at a six-week absence, the Bengals could place him on injured reserve. However, if they go that route, then Chase will have to sit out at least four games, so they’ll only put him on IR if they feel like there’s no way he can make it back inside of a month. The Bengals have a bye in Week 10, so if Chase sat out in Week 8 (Browns) and Week 9 (Panthers), that would give him four weeks to heal and he’d only miss two games in that span. 

This is a devastating injury for a Bengals offense that was starting to find its footing over the past few weeks after a slow start to the season. The Bengals have won four of their past five games and a big reason for that is because of Chase, who has absolute gone off over his past two games with at least 130 receiving yards and two touchdowns in each game, which were both Bengals wins. 

The 2021 Offensive Rookie of the Year originally injured the hip in Week 6 against the Saints. During that 30-26 win, Chase caught seven passes for 132 yards, including a 60-yard game-winning touchdown that came with under two minutes to play. In the days after that game, Chase showed up on the injury report for the first time all season and he even sat out of the team’s Wednesday practice in the lead up to their Week 7 game against the Falcons. 

Against Atlanta, Chase caught eight passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. However, he did most of his damage in the first half, which is notable, because he appeared to reinjure his hip with just 20 seconds to…