The Bengals’ high-flying attack could take a step back in the coming weeks and that’s because Ja’Marr Chase is expected to miss some time due to a hip injury.
While it’s unclear how long Chase will be out of action, 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 probably be the best scenario for the Bengals as there is at least one message that he could be out for more than a month.
According to ESPN.com, the injury could sideline the Bengals star for four to six weeks, and if it’s the longer end of that window, Chase could be out until December. Chase was kept out of practice on Thursday and at the time, Bengals coach Zac Taylor said it was because the hip was “painful,” but it’s clearly more than that.
Fantasy Fallout
With Chase potentially staring at a six-week absence, the Bengals could put him on an injured reserve. If they go that route, though, Chase will have to sit out at least four matches, so they’ll only put him on IR if they feel like he can’t make it back in a month. The Bengals have a retirement in Week 10, so if Chase were in Week 8 (Browns) and Week 9 (Panthers), he would have four weeks to heal and would only miss two games in that period.
This is a devastating injury for a Bengals offense that has begun to make its way in recent 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 absolutely gone off the map in his past two games with at least 130 receiving yards and two touchdowns in each game, 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 had less than two minutes to play. In the days following that game, Chase appeared on the injury report for the first time all season, and he even sat out of the team’s Wednesday practice leading up to their Week 7 game against the Falcons.
Against Atlanta, Chase caught eight passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. However, he did the most damage in the first half, which is remarkable as he appeared to recover his hip with just 20 seconds left to halftime.
Although Chase came back into the game in the second half, he was not very active.
Chase’s absence means Taylor will have to completely renew the Bengals attack. The Bengals have the weapons to succeed without Chase, but there’s no guarantee it will. One thing the Bengals have to lean on in Chase’s absence is Joe Mixon and the running game, but that could pose problems as the ground game doesn’t exist this year (the Bengals average only 87.4 yards per game on the ground, which is the fifth worst in the NFL).
If you look at the Bengals passing game, this year Joe Burrow threw 27% of his passes (74 goals in 270 attempts) to Chase and those will have to go elsewhere. The good news for the Bengals is that Burrow has great chemistry with the rest of his receivers. Although Chase leads the team with 605 receiving yards, both Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd are right behind him with 455 yards each. Those will be the two guys who need to pick up the slack because Burrow will definitely be looking their way with Chase out.
Also, Mixon (182) and Hayden Hurst (226) both have over 180 receiving yards in the season.
It’s going to be an uphill battle for the Bengals offense, but they have several games to win in the coming weeks (at Browns, Panthers, BYE, at Steelers, at Titans) and with the way their defense plays, the defending AFC has champions. weather the storm of Chase’s absence.