Bengals Lose Star WR Ja’Marr Chase to Injury

Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase suffered a shoulder injury in their win against the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday. The injury is to his right shoulder, and Chase was seen on the sideline in a hoodie after suffering the injury. So far, Tee Higgins has carried the Bengals forward without Chase, but both have not played much together this year, and the entire wide receiver corps with a fully healthy Joe Burrow has not seen many reps together.

That is not the only injury that the Bengals have suffered. In addition to Ja’Marr Chase, standout defensive tackle D.J. Reader and quality special teamer D.J. Ivey both suffered knee injuries.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Reader suffered a potentially significant quad injury and will need an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. Reader could be a massive blow for a unit that is already one of the worst run defenses in the NFL with him in there. Without him, that could be even worse for a team that needs as much help as it can get up front to maintain its run defense.

Chase would hurt the offense even more, and Pittsburgh did not face the three-headed monster at wide receiver in the first game either, with Tee Higgins out of that game with a hamstring injury. Simply put, the health of the Bengals will be something to watch closely moving forward on both sides of the football. But the offense led by Jake Browning is putting up an admirable effort to try and power them into the playoffs.