Sunday was another tough afternoon for the Cincinnati Bengals offense, but star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had a decent showing despite it.
Chase finished the afternoon with seven receptions for 73 yards in the 27-3 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
But outside of that, it wasn’t a pretty game and Chase seemed to let his frustration slip out when he spoke to reporters after the loss. One journalist asked him if he felt he wasn’t getting enough space against defenders, and that’s when he briefly vented.
“Nah, I’m open,” Chase said. “I’m always f–king open. Excuse my profanity, I’m sorry.”
Chase later said that there wasn’t much more he could do if he was already open.
“I can’t do nothing man,” he said. “If I’m open, I’m open. At the end of the day, I can’t do nothing.”
The Bengals only attempted one pass for over 20 yards on Sunday, and quarterback Joe Burrow finished the game with just 165 passing yards.
The offensive struggles have impacted Chase hard this season, as he hasn’t gotten a touchdown reception this year through the first four games. Chase had also been held to a combined 70 receiving yards in the first two games of the year before breaking out in Week 3 and Week 4.
“I just gotta be ready for it when Joe checks it to me,” Chase said. “I gotta be on top of my side of the ball. And my job as a receiver to be open, you know what I’m saying, give him an opportunity to know what I’m doing.”
Despite the rough start to the year, Chase was confident that he could still be the spark to get the Bengals on track after going 1-3 four games in.
“Yeah I could, I’ve always been,” Chase said when asked about being the spark. “Trying. I had two good runs in the first quarter. I thought that was gonna help us. Maybe I need to get in the end zone to get that spark. They did the same thing the whole game. Blitzed on second and third down.”