Bengals Ruled Out Superstar Wide Receiver Surfaces A Brutal shoulder Injury As A Result Of…
Superstar wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals was sidelined for the rest of the game due to a shoulder injury sustained late in the fourth quarter of the team’s home game against the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday.
Mike Garafolo reported on the NFL Network broadcast that the receiver was dealing with separated shoulder, also known as an AC joint sprain:
According to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Chase was checked out in the locker room and returned to the sidelines in street clothes.
Despite Chase’s absence, the Bengals scored a touchdown on a pass from Jake Browning to Tee Higgins in the closing seconds of regulation to tie the score at 24-24 and force overtime.
Despite occasional injuries, Chase has not missed a game this season and had 89 receptions for 1,092 yards and seven touchdowns going into the game on Saturday.
Prior to exiting Saturday, Chase had four catches for 64 yards in the contest.
Chase has been mostly healthy since being selected by the Bengals fifth overall in the 2021 draft out of LSU. However, he appeared in just 12 games during the 2022 season due to a hairline hip fracture and torn labrum that caused him to miss four games in the middle of the campaign.
Should Chase be sidelined after this Saturday’s game, Browning will probably mostly use Boyd and Higgins at wide receiver.
Joe Mixon, the running back, will probably be used extensively against the opposition, in addition to tight ends Tanner Hudson, Drew Sample, and Irv Smith Jr.
Cincinnati was in the thick of the AFC wild-card race going into Saturday’s game with a 7-6 record.
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Cincinnati Bengals’ ‘Closer’ Mentality Continues to Help Them Win Big Games…
Cincinnati’s standing as a team full of closers is still intact. In order to maintain their hopes of making the playoffs, the Bengals overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter and defeated the Vikings 27-24 on Saturday.
The Bengals have gone 7-3 in games decided by four points or less dating back to Week 9 of last season. Even without star players like Joe Burrow, they’ve been resilient and found ways to win games.
Tyler Boyd remarked, “We work really well under pressure. “Guys, especially myself, go into high alert when the pressure is on and increases.” It’s contagious in this locker room, and from then on that’s how guys conduct themselves. When the chips are down, I want to be that guy to help this team win in any way I can, whether it’s blocking or catching something.
The Bengals have played three games in 13 days. They’ve managed to win all three, which includes two overtime victories with Jake Browning under center.
“We always have an opportunity, we’ve got a real special group here and any given second, minute something special could happen,” Boyd said.
Cincinnati was counted out. The team was looked at as a non-factor after Burrow went down with a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11. The narrative of Cincinnati failing to sign a “capable” backup quarterback was running wild until Browning completed 32-of-37 pass attempts for 354 yards in Jacksonville on Monday Night Football. Browning was doubted his whole NFL career until this moment.
“Everything negative, pressure, challenges—it’s all an opportunity for me to rise,” the late Kobe Bryant famously remarked.
Working in a performance-based field means that, depending on how a guy plays with the lights on, either positivity or negativity will flood in. Before Browning could participate in games that mattered in the league, he had to deal with negative comments and harsh criticism.