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Ja'Marr Chase Gets Brutally Frank With Bengals Admission

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Anthony Goss | Last updated May 29, 2025 8:34 AM ET

The Cincinnati Bengals dug themselves in a hole early last season, coming out of the first five weeks in a 1-4 record. All statistics and trends show that making the playoffs after such a horrendous start is nearly impossible.

While the Bengals made a rally at the end, the damage was already done to keep them out of the postseason for another year. Obviously this does not follow the master plan Cincinnati had in mind after drafting Joe Burrow.

The Bengals made the AFC Championship the year after losing Super Bowl LVI but have not reached hallowed ground since that time. Poor openings contributed to their downfall in each instance, so they hope to avoid them again.

That leaves head coach Zac Taylor putting more of an emphasis on the preseason. He has expressed wanting his starters to build some momentum in hopes of getting off on the right foot.

Most starters across the league would not find that very agreeable and star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase is among them. He made his feelings perfectly clear after a team OTA session on Tuesday.

"If it was up to me? No, of course not," Chase said. "You ask me do I want to play? Not really."

Two minutes with Ja’Marr Chase on playing in the preseason and slow starts.

Does he want to play? Not really. Does he get the connection? Absolutely.

Said last year he was in his own head for the week one loss. #Bengals @FOX19 pic.twitter.com/BbVUSNqZVN
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) May 27, 2025

But while expressing his feelings about it Chase did not hide from the truth either.

"Sounds like we need to play preseason...Y'all found your own answer... I can say I wasn't mentally ready to be on the field," Chase said. "I was in my own head. I wanted to play but I was in my own head."

There is some merit to Taylor's philosophy of wanting get some juice from his key contributors before it counts in the win-loss column. However, any participation in the preseason runs the risk of fluke injury which this team simply cannot afford.

Despite the struggles of the past two seasons, many Bengals are pegging a Bengals resurgence to shake up the contending picture in the AFC this season. They cannot afford the same slip ups out of the gate this time around though.

And if that means an extra drive or two in the preseason, maybe it's worth it for Chase and his crew to scratch off the rust a little bit more.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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