The Cincinnati Bengals are hoping to rebound in Week 9 and work their way back into the AFC North title conversation after a disappointing loss to the Jets this past weekend. Fortunately, the Bengals will square off against a vulnerable Bears squad, one that lost its first game since Week 2 and looked baffled by a beaten and bruised Ravens team (and one without Lamar Jackson).
The Bengals might also be a vulnerable team but if there's one constant on their roster, it'd easily be star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase. Even when the Bengals quarterback situation has been less than ideal, Chase continues to be a threat to torch the defense on the other side of the field.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson knows what his team is up against this weekend when his squad rolls into Paycor Stadium and tasked with trying to slow Chase down. The problem for Bears fans but the enjoyable part for Bengals fans is that Johnson pretty much admitted defeat on facing Chase and the game hasn't even kicked off yet. Maybe that's not the attitude he should be having?
"Talk about a complete problem. He is that. I don't know how much you can slow him down. I don't know anything that he doesn't do well," Johnson said. "Yeah, I think he's a complete receiver. I think it's all hands on deck to try to slow him down. I think we have to do a great job of marrying up our rush and our coverage and make it as difficult as we possibly can for this offense."
Ben Johnson admits Ja'Marr Chase might be too much to handle
To Johnson's credit, he's not wrong here. The problem that Bears fans might be having is that this is quite the brutally honest take and won't give that fan base much confidence about how their defense will fare against Chase this weekend.
Johnson's absolutely correct in that Chase does pretty much everything well. He's had over 1,000 yards receiving in each of his previous four seasons and did so in 2023 despite Joe Burrow missing a chunk of the season due to injury. Through eight games this season, and only having Burrow for one and a half games, Chase has 70 catches for 720 yards and five touchdowns. Again, Burrow hasn't been his quarterback for the majority of the season either. That's beyond impressive.
The problem for the Bengals is that it won't matter how dominant Chase is if the defense can't do their part in solving the opposition down. If the defense can even be average, Chase will continue to do what he does and Cincinnati will be in a much better spot. Let's hope that comes to fruition against the Bears on Sunday.