A season for the ages.
There are players football fans look back on and say things like, “It’s a shame he played there; he could have won so many Super Bowls had he played for a good team/with a good quarterback/with a better coach/etc.”
Calvin Johnson comes to mind. So does Barry Sanders. People outside Cincinnati may say that about AJ Green or Carson Palmer.
If the Cincinnati Bengals are unable to win a Super Bowl while Ja’Marr Chase is their No. 1 receiver, will they say it about him?
Chase finished a historic regular season against the Steelers by catching 10 passes for 96 yards and scoring the offense’s lone touchdown, helping the Bengals finish the season with a winning record and keeping them alive in the playoff hunt.
The former LSU standout finished the year with 127 receptions, 1,708 yards, and 17 touchdowns, all of which are franchise records. He broke TJ Houshmandzadeh’s single-season reception record, which was set in 2007.
Chase broke his own single-season receiving yard record, which he set in 2021, and he tied Carl Pickens’ single-season touchdown reception record (17), which was set in 1995. There are a fair amount of people reading this right now who have no idea who Carl Pickens is.
Not only did Chase break or tie franchise records, but he also broke NFL records. Chase is the first player in NFL history to have a 1,700-yard, 17-touchdown season. He also earned the NFL receiving triple crown, leading the league in catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He joined Cooper Kupp and Steve Smith Sr. as the only players to win the triple crown since the year 2000 and just the fourth in the last 50 years.
Chase’s season will go down as one of the most dominant in NFL history. It wouldn’t be surprising if we saw a 30-For-30 down the line about how Joe Burrow’s MVP season and Chase’s triple-crown season were wasted on a 9-8 record.
