The Bengals‘ high-flying offense could be taking a step back over the next few weeks as 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 will miss Monday night’s game against the Cleveland Browns and could miss several more weeks.
The injury was expected to sideline the Bengals star 4-6 weeks, but head coach Zac Taylor confirmed Saturday that Chase will not be placed on injured reserve. Instead, he’ll remain on the active roster as he rehabs his hip injury. It’s an optimistic sign Chase could return sooner than anticipated as a player on IR must sit for at least four weeks. Chase remaining on the active roster could mean he is expected to be ready to go in less time.
This is a devastating injury for a Bengals offense 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 the past two weeks, 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 go until halftime.
Although Chase returned to the game in the second half, he wasn’t very active.
The absence of Chase means that Taylor is going to have to completely revamp the Bengals offense. The Bengals have the weapons to succeed without Chase, but there’s no guarantee that will happen. One thing the Bengals will need to lean on in Chase’s absence is Joe Mixon and the running game, but that could be trouble, because the ground game has been nonexistent this year (The Bengals are averaging just 87.4 yards per game on the ground, which is…
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