Down 13-0 at halftime against Baltimore, the Bengals looked headed for a rough Sunday. Then Ja’Marr Chase turned the locker room into a wake-up call.
The Cincinnati receiver said he came in furious with how the first half unfolded and let his teammates hear it before the second half began.
"I was pretty angry coming into halftime. I didn't like how we played.
You know what I'm saying? We had 15 plays, maybe two or three possessions, and it didn't go our way at all.
We had opportunities to get the ball out our hands," Chase shared with reporters postgame.
He said the pressure on Joe Burrow was part of what set him off.
"[Quarterback Joe Burrow] was getting too much pressure, and I came in here screaming, saying, ‘We got to ... somebody got to make a play for us, and somebody got to make a play.’ And I told our offense, 'We can't look at our defense the whole time. We gotta step this [expletive] up and make something work,'" he revealed.
Chase said he’s been in that kind of moment before, though this time it hit differently.
"I've done it before, and I cried last time, but I didn't cry this time," Chase also said.
He couldn’t remember the other halftime speech off the top of his head, but said he was "really emotional in that moment."
"I was pissed. I wasn't very emotional," Chase said of his most recent speech, telling another reporter, "I think it was needed in the moment."
The message wasn’t just aimed at one corner of the offense. Chase said he was talking to everyone, from receivers to tight ends to offensive linemen, trying to snap the group into gear.
Whatever he said landed. Chase said the Bengals looked "a little more explosive and a little more aggressive" with their play calls after halftime, and the scoreboard backed that up. Cincinnati dropped 35 points in the second half, with Chase and Tee Higgins both finding the end zone.
Chase finished with five catches for 62 yards. Higgins was even bigger, going for six receptions and 148 yards. Burrow completed 22 of 30 passes for 292 yards and four touchdowns in the Bengals’ 35-13 win, while Drew Sample and Mike Gesicki also scored.
Now Chase wants the edge to last beyond one big comeback.
"I think we gotta carry the momentum to the next game. I think that's the biggest thing.
If I gotta go off again, then so be it at the end of the day. But we definitely need to carry this momentum to the next game, and then let's keep it going," Chase said.
The win moved Cincinnati to 4-2, behind the 5-2 Browns and Steelers in the AFC North, after both won Sunday. The Bengals will host the Tennessee Titans in Cincinnati on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. ET.
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