The Cincinnati Bengals' playoff hopes are on a wing and a prayer, and much of the fact that they're not completely dead can be attributed to star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase.
"I should already be All-Pro," Chase said on Thursday when asked if his last two performances should help his case.
Chase has busted out for 191 yards from 15 catches including a touchdown in his last two games, both of which the Bengals won.
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In fact, Cincinnati is amidst a three-game win streak in which Chase has averaged 123 yards and a touchdown.
It's a claim that could be interpreted as arrogance, but at 108 receptions for 1,510 total yards and 16 touchdown catches, it's nothing short of confidence — and mere fact.
Chase is well en route to being names the NFL's receiving champion. His 264-yard showing against the Baltimore Ravens on Nov. 7 landed him at No. 19 on the all-time list, and that's his second-best career performance. It was two yards shy of another three-score night on Jan. 2, 2022, which is No. 16.
The former Offensive Rookie of the Year and All-Pro receiver is within reach of winning the triple crown for the first time since Los Angeles Rams wideout Cooper Kupp did it in 2021.
"I gotta worry about winning the game," Chase said. "Be in the playoffs. Me winning the Triple Crown is not putting money in my pocket. Me making the playoffs will put some money in my pocket."
At 7-8 and currently in a three-way tie with the Indianapolis Colts and the Miami Dolphins for eighth place in the AFC, the Bengals own a 1% chance of making the postseason with two games left on tap.
With high preseason expectations, this is certainly not where Chase, Joe Burrow or really anyone else expected them to be turning the page into the 2025 calendar year. After a 1-4 start, Cincinnati has had to play catch up all season long.
In order for the Bengals to make it at this juncture, they would have to win out against the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers. In addition, they also need the Broncos to lose to the Chiefs in Week 18, who could rest their starters, and the Dolphins (on the road against the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets) and Colts (on the road against the New York Giants, and then back at home versus the Jacksonville Jaguars) to lose either of their last couple games.
Even though the Bengals' fate is out of their own hands, Chase and Burrow continue to tear up opposing secondaries in the eleventh hour of the season.
Burrow threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns without an interception in conquering Cleveland 24-6 during their Week 16 meeting; Chase caught 97 yards worth of that output.
"We just can't give him the ball enough," said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor after the Bengals' defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 9. "We got it to him 14 times and it feels like you could still try to get it to him more and we did. In some of those moments, sometimes you just try to keep it simple and give playmakers the ball and it paid out for us."
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