Packers vs. Bengals: Five Key Players for Week 6 Clash 

The 2-1-1 Green Bay Packers will play at Lambeau for the first time since Week 2 against the scuffling 2-3 Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. 

Here are five key players, starting with arguably the best receiver in football. 

Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase 

Ja’Marr Chase was the best wide receiver in football last season, leading the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, becoming the youngest winner of the receiver triple crown since Packers legend Don Hutson. He finished the season with 127 catches for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns, averaging 100.5 yards and one touchdown per game. 

Chase gets high praise from some of the best defenders in the NFL, like Micah Parsons. 

“He’s a special breed of his own,” Parsons said. “He’s one of those. He’s a special breed. He’s going to do what he do. It’s just like we got to slow him down. We got to stop him, but I know who he is and I expect him to make plays doing what he do. That’s the standard I have for those type of guys.” 

With Joe Burrow on injured reserve, Chase has not had the start to the season that he has come to expect. He has 32 catches for 374 yards and three touchdowns, but most of the yards and all of the touchdowns came from strong Week 2 and Week 5 performances against the Jaguars and Lions, respectively. 

Chase will be coming into Lambeau hot after his best game of the season last week, but he will be doing it with his third quarterback this season. As one of the best players in the league, he is likely to be Joe Flacco’s favorite target. 

Packers RB Josh Jacobs 

Josh Jacobs had a breakout game of his own in Week 4 against the Cowboys. He ran for 86 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were season highs.

While he enters Sunday’s game averaging a career-low 3.3 yards per carry, he is tied for sixth in the league in rushing touchdowns. Had he been able to score in Week 3 against the Browns, he would have found the end zone in every game this season. 

Jacobs will have a good matchup this week against the Bengals, who have the 25th-ranked rushing defense and have allowed six rushing touchdowns in five games.  

“It’s been rough,” Jacobs said of the state of the running game. “It’s been rough, but that’s as expected. I’ve been saying since the offseason, it takes three to four weeks to really get it going. So, to be able to be at that, what, four- or five-week mark today at practice, it felt really good. We had a lot of big holes in our runs. Everybody going to the right assignments. No penalties or nothing like that. It’s going in the right direction.”

Coming off a great game against the Cowboys and running behind what should be his No. 1 offensive line, Jacobs is primed for an even better performance against the Bengals.

Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson 

After facing Aidan Hutchinson in Week 1 and Myles Garrett in Week 3, it is another edge rusher that takes home the award for most dangerous player facing the Packers. 

Trey Hendrickson has been a defensive end since he came to the Bengals in free agency in 2021. He was fifth with 14 sacks in his debut season and led the NFL with 17.5 last season. Over his four seasons, he’s third in the league with 61 sacks, just behind Garrett (64) and T.J. Watt (61.5).

With back-to-back seasons of 17.5 sacks in 2023 and 2024 and four sacks to start this season, he has a league-high 39.5 sacks during that span, 5.5 more than Watt. Hendrickson needs 13 more sacks this season to join Reggie White as the only players with 17 sacks in three consecutive seasons. 

As with the aforementioned Ja’Marr Chase and Josh Jacobs, Hendrickson is coming off his best game of the season. Last week against the Lions, he had two sacks and one forced fumble.

The Packers’ offensive line kept Hutchinson in check but were picked apart by the Browns’ front seven. While the No. 1 line is expected to play, three of the five starters are questionable, so it could be a struggle to contain Hendrickson.

Packers LBs Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker