Ja'Marr Chase Delivered Blunt Message to Bengals Teammates Ahead of Matchup vs Lions

CINCINNATI — Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase spoke to the team after their Week 4 loss to the Broncos on Monday Night Football.

What did he tell his teammates following their second-straight blowout loss?

"If I'm being honest, I don't mind when the players get mad. I don't mind that, cuz that means they care, at the end of the day," Chase said. "I want guys to play with passion, I want them to play with anger, you know what I'm saying? Cuz you never know how guys might respond. And I told my guys that recently after the game, I just want them to play with a little more fire and anger."

The Bengals have lost the past two games by a combined score of 76-13. They're still 2-2 on the season, but things need to turn around in a hurry.

"I gave a little speech after the game, don't wanna really say what I said, but I spoke up to the guys after the game about how I felt about what's going on," Chase said.

Chase has 26 catches for 264 yards and one touchdown this season. He has 10 catches for 73 yards in the past two games with Jake Browning at quarterback.

Joe Burrow suffered a grade 3 turf toe sprain that required surgery in Cincinnati's Week 2 win over Jacksonville. He's on injured reserve and is expected to miss a minimum of three months.

Chase has struggled when Burrow has missed time with injuries. He has 41 catches for 482 yards and one touchdown in nine games without the star quarterback. The Bengals are 4-5 in those matchups.

The Bengals' passing game will have to get going if they're going to be competitive against a high-powered Lions team that's averaging 34.3 points-per-game.

"They're very balanced, very good in the run," Bengals safety Jordan Battle said. "They got a great play action game as well. So we have to have good eyes as a defense, you know, read our keys, play their pass first and then react to the run, as safeties in the back seven. And then obviously Jared Goff, experienced quarterback. We got to be good with our pre-snap looks, don't try not to give them the answer before the ball is snapped and just hold our PSLs and then play from there."

The Bengals play the Lions on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET. Watch Chase's comments below:

"I want guys to play with passion. I want them to play with anger." - Ja'Marr Chase on his message he gave to his teammates this week.

Full Video: https://t.co/4SE6Nvlb8C

Listen: https://t.co/1aUPKwVJvP pic.twitter.com/hjDUc9WxLl
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) October 4, 2025

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