Bengals HC Zac Taylor addresses sideline incident with Ja'Marr Chase

Zac Taylor explains the confrontation

Taylor was asked after the game about the exchange, and he all but confirmed that Chase was unhappy with Cincinnati’s inability to get the All-Pro the ball.

“Ja’Marr coming off of a game like this is one of my favorite players to deal with, quite frankly, because he’s just competitive. He just wants to win,” Taylor said. “It comes across as emotional, but that’s just a captain that works his tail off. All he wants to do is win the game. All he wants to do is affect the game. Oftentimes he feels like, ‘If I have the ball in my hand I can do that,’ and I don’t disagree with him.

“We’re always looking for ways to get him the ball. Obviously, for him, he sometimes can’t see what’s going on in the backfield and some of the challenges that are faced back there, but I love Ja’Marr.”

Chase had five catches for just 23 yards in the loss to Denver. He was targeted eight times. Bengals quarterback Jake Browning went 14-of-25 for 125 yards. Browning was 19-of-27 for 140 yards, a touchdown and a pair of interceptions in Cincinnati’s 48-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3.

The Bengals came away with a field goal on their opening drive Monday night, and they did not score a point after that. Even ESPN announcer Troy Aikman was discouraged with the product on the field.

Chase is coming off a 2024 season in which he had 127 catches for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns. He knows the Bengals offense is in trouble now that Burrow is going to miss the majority of the year. Taylor might need to consider a quarterback change before things spiral out of control for his team.