If it felt as if Ja’Marr Chase was disproportionally laying it on thick for the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, it turns out that he was. In fact, he was doing so on a historic level.
It’s one thing to watch an opposing player dominate a game and come up with one big catch after another. However, something felt different on Sunday when watching Chase overwhelm the Chiefs’ defense on one play after another (after another). There was simply no answer for the Cincinnati Bengals rookie wide receiver and the final results tell the same story.
Looking back on Chase’s performance and the Bengals’ big win in Week 17, it turned out to be the single best pass-catching performance against the Chiefs ever. When measuring by receiving yards. Chase outperformed every single pass-catcher who has ever gone up against Kansas City with his 266-yard effort.
Ja’Marr Chase set a new receiving mark for opposing pass-catchers versus the Chiefs.
Chase put up 266 receiving yards against the Chiefs in an efficient day from quarterback Joe Burrow that featured 11 catches on 12 targets. Chase also had 3 touchdowns and delivered a division-claiming win for the Bengals. That yardage total is 16 more than the incredible 250 yards put up by Dallas Cowboys wideout Miles Austin back in the 2009 season and 21 more than the 245 that Houston Oilers wide receiver Haywood Jeffires had in 1990.
Ten players in NFL history have had 200 yards receiving in a single game against the Chiefs and three have come in Andy Reid’s tenure as the league has shifted toward more dynamic passing attacks. The last player to reach 200 yards was Amari Cooper back in 2017. T.Y Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts was the other in the last decade back in 2014.
Chase now has two 200-yard games himself in his rookie season, with the other coming back in Week 7 against the Baltimore Ravens when he had 201 yards. The Bengals had 41 points that day in a dominating win over their division rivals. With one week to play, Chase has 79 catches for 1,429 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season.