Joe Burrow walked into Ja’Marr Chase’s podcast with one message for the Cincinnati Bengals: winning comes first.
“I just want to win this year,” Burrow said. “I just want to win.
The rest will take care of itself. I think we’ll break a bunch of records eventually, but I think we’re going to have a really good team that has a chance to win every game that we step foot on the field for.
I don’t know about you, but I could really feel it in my bones, in my soul in OTAs this year, different from years past.”
That optimism will get its first test on Sunday, when the Bengals open at home against the newly extended Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But before the game even arrived, Ja’Marr Chase managed to create a different kind of buzz.
On Thursday, Chase told reporters he wasn’t thrilled to learn the matchup was set for the early window.
“I’m finding out the game (this Sunday) is at 1 o’clock, so I don’t like that. To be honest, I do not like playing in 1 o’clock games,” Chase said.
When asked when he found out, Chase answered: “Today.”
That admission landed with a thud online, especially because so many Bengals games have been slotted into that same afternoon window throughout his career. Fans on social media didn’t exactly let it slide.
“1 o clock games are a weird thing to complain about,” one fan posted on X.
“(You) think this is funnyThat a player whose salary is almost 1/7th of the teams overall cap doesn’t know what time he’s playing an opener until 3 days before? Pathetic,” someone else posted.
“Still has an attitude problem,” another fan posted.
Whether that reaction lingers will depend entirely on what happens Sunday. If the Bengals handle the Buccaneers, Chase’s comments will fade fast. If they stumble and Chase doesn’t meet the standard he’s built, the scrutiny is going to come hard and early.
In Other News...
Cashius Howell Is Suddenly At Center Of Bengals Defensive Hype
Cashius Howell has quickly become one of the most talked-about names around the Bengals defense, and it is easy to see why. Cincinnati used the draft to reshape its front, dealing away its first-round pick to the Giants for Dexter Lawrence before spending its second-round selection on the Texas A&M edge rusher, who arrived with plenty of momentum after being named the 2025 SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous All-American.
The early buzz has only gotten louder since then, with CBS Sports analyst John Breech going so far as to project Howell as the 2026 Defensive Rookie of the Year and the Bengals as a playoff team. For a defense looking for impact players who can change the conversation, Howell is already being treated like much more than a mid-round addition, even if the real answer about how fast he can tilt games in Cincinnati still has to play out. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Have An Unexpected New Injury Concern Before Week 1
Week 1 practice brought one of those early-season reminders that the Bengals depth will be tested before the games even count. DJ Turner II showed up on the injury report with a hamstring issue and was limited, while JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins were both back to full participation as they continue working through their own recoveries. For a team trying to build rhythm right away, getting its top receivers on the field matters, but the attention shifted quickly to the new concern in the secondary.
Zac Taylor also spent time updating the status of several players while talking through the bigger picture of continuity and situational football as the season opener approaches. Those are the kinds of details that tend to matter more once the first kickoff arrives, especially for a Bengals team hoping to avoid any early disruption in a unit that needs all its pieces ready. For now, the key question is how much Turners hamstring affects the week ahead and whether it lingers past the initial practice report. [Read more 🡒]
Ja'Marr Chase Sent Bengals Fans An Encouraging Message Before Sunday
Ja'Marr Chases return to full participation in practice comes with a little extra reassurance for Bengals fans who watched him deal with a minor knee hyperextension last month. Entering the 2026 season, the star receiver said he feels fully healthy again, and he struck a confident tone about both his body and the energy around the team as preparations move toward opening weekend.
The timing of the schedule is one thing Chase clearly did not hide his opinion on, since he said he would rather not be dealing with 1 p.m. starts. But the bigger takeaway for Cincinnati is simpler: its top pass-catching threat sounds ready to go, and after a brief scare in the summer, that is the sort of update that matters most this time of year. [Read more 🡒]