CINCINNATI — At the time, Ja’Marr Chase wanted to leave it a mystery.
When he scored a touchdown in a Week 11 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver grabbed the towel hanging from the back of his pants, kneeled down and wiped the football as if it were a baby’s bottom. It was a tribute to a touchdown Steve Smith scored in 2005.
Why, exactly, wasn’t something Chase wanted to disclose. That changed on Wednesday. Chase knew he could accomplish a feat only Smith and a few others had in their careers — winning the receiving triple crown.
If Chase has an even mildly productive game Saturday against the Pittsburgh Steelers (8 p.m., ESPN/ABC), he’ll finish the season as the NFL leader in catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, only four players led the league in all three categories — Jerry Rice (1990), Sterling Sharpe (1992), Smith (2005) and Cooper Kupp (2021).
The way Chase has described the accolade has felt nonchalant. But he knows this season is continuing his trajectory to one day be remembered as one of the NFL’s best receivers.
“If not now, then soon,” Chase said.
Entering Saturday, Chase has a firm grip on the triple crown. He has 117 catches (leads the Detroit Lions‘ Amon-Ra St. Brown by 8), 1,612 receiving yards (leads the Minnesota Vikings‘ Justin Jefferson by 133) and receiving touchdowns (leads St. Brown and the Washington Commanders‘ Terry McLaurin by four).
Chase broke his own record for most receiving yards in franchise history, owns the mark for the most catches by a Bengal in a season and needs two receiving touchdowns to pass Carl Pickens’ mark set in 1995.
Some of this has been a byproduct of how the Bengals (8-8) function offensively. Coach Zac Taylor has stated his desire to be the best passing team in the NFL and has been committed to that concept for years. This season, the Bengals are second in pass attempts, and quarterback Joe Burrow, Chase’s longtime teammate, is having a career year. Burrow leads all passers with 4,641 yards and 42 touchdowns. His 76.7 QBR is second to the 78.0 of the Baltimore Ravens Lamar Jackson.
But it’s also a testament to the work Chase has put into becoming a more complete player this season. When Cincinnati didn’t re-sign veteran Tyler Boyd, that left a void at slot receiver.
Chase was eager to fill that void. Each morning, het met with assistant Troy Walters, his position coach, to study routes. And it’s paid off.
This season, Chase is the only receiver to have more than 400 receiving yards when lined up in the slot and 1,000 yards when lined up outside, according to ESPN Research.
Chase told ESPN that things started to click for him after his second year in the league in 2022. But this season has produced a significant evolution in his knowledge.
“This is the first year that I just know (it) for a fact,” he said. “The confidence that I had was just like, I knew it already.”
It’s been such a great year that it feels easy to forget how it started. Chase did not participate in training camp because of a dispute about a new contract that never materialized. But even though he wasn’t in cleats, he was still actively involved as he attended nearly every practice.
During walkthroughs and practices, Chase stood next to Walters as he called out plays. The receiver picked up on them immediately.
Now, it all comes second nature.
“Really all of (the receivers) know where they line up, what route they have, just by the name of the play,” Walters told ESPN. “I’m getting to the point where now I can say a formation and maybe a certain motion, and they know what the play is.”
All of that has led to a massive season. On Thursday, Chase was named to his fourth Pro Bowl in as many seasons. If he is named to the Associated Press All-Pro team, he’ll be the first Bengal to earn the honor since 2015.
During his mid-week news conference, Chase shrugged off a lot of the talk of accolades and instead shifted the focus to Saturday’s game. The Bengals need to win and also need losses from the Denver Broncos (9-7) and Miami Dolphins (8-8) in order to make the playoffs.
But his teammates know how special getting a triple crown will be for Chase. Burrow said he will do whatever’s in his power to help his longtime friend hit all three marks.
And while it might not sink in for Chase in real time, it has already settled in for those around him about what the rare feat means.
“I can tell my kids one day that I played with an MVP quarterback and a triple crown winner,” said Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. “Not a lot of people can do that.”