Ja'Marr Chase, Chase Brown Recognize Not All Wins Can Be 'Pretty'

Cincinnati's offense fell flat, but the defense came through.

Sep 7, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1) drops a pass defended by Cleveland Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II (0) during the second half at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bengals only put up 17 points on offense in Week 1 to continue some rough season-opening trends for one of the best units in the NFL, but this time around, they left a frustrating performance 1-0 and not 0-1.

That's the most important thing for everyone, including star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who had just two catches for 26 yards. His lowest yardage and catch total since reeling in four catches for 35 yards in the Chiefs' loss last season.

"From being in the NFL so long now, the games that are ugly and we win, we gotta take it," Chase said about being satisfied despite the rough offensive day. "Every game is not gonna be pretty, every game is not gonna be the best for me, for Tee, Joe, it's not gonna be best for us, so we got to take everything we can get and get the W and go do it again."

Cincinnati rolled out the gates with a season-opening TD drive capped by Chase Brown, who ended up with the best offensive day of any Bengal (21 carries for 43 yards and one TD).

He echoed Chase's sentiments.

"We're going to learn from the film," Brown said after the game. "And we're going to be like, 'We could have been better on those third-down conversions.' I could have pressed my track more. I could have caught that ball on third down. I mean, just little things like that that are huge when it comes down to the next play call and the flow of the offense."

Ugly, pretty, wonky, wily.

Put any description on it, Cincinnati is 1-0 as a franchise that's largely gotten better and better throughout seasons under Zac Taylor. Now, they could have some extra breathing room at the end of the campaign that they normally wouldn't have had.

"Winning those tight games is big," Brown noted. "You look at the end of last season, there were a ton of games decided by less than three points, and we lost most of them, right? So leaving this game with a win, it's going to be huge later on in the season, especially when we're making that playoff run."

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