‘I’m About To Get This’ – Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase Says Team Record Will Be His

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase didn’t know his number. But you better believe he knows the number.

The conversation started with Chase being asked if 100 catches is one of his goals.

“That’s a goal of mine. How many am I away?” he asked.

When informed he had 86 catches and needed 14 more, Chase said, “14 away? Swear? Oh, yeah. I’m about to get this. That’s easy. Oh, yeah. I got it.”

Ja’Marr Chase Says Setting Bengals Record Will Be Easy

There have been only two 100-reception seasons in Bengals history. Carl Pickens hit 100 on the nose with six catches in the 1996 season finale. And T.J. Houshmandzadeh set the franchise record with 112 in 2007.

Chase didn’t know his current total, but he knew all about 112.

“I got it. Don’t even worry about it,” he said. “How many games we got left?”

When told there were five, Chase said, “I got it. We’re good. I’m trying to get 117, baby.”

Why 117?

“I just don’t want to be close to what (Houshmandzadeh) had,” he said. “I want to make it harder for somebody else.”

On his current pace, averaging 7.2 receptions per game, Chase would finish with 122.

“Let’s kill it. Shatter it,” he said.

The night the Bengals drafted Chase in 2021, he said he was coming to Cincinnati to break all the records. The career marks for receptions, yards, and touchdowns will take some time, but he already has set the single-game record for receiving yards with 266 in his rookie year against Kansas City, and earlier this season, he set the single-game record for receptions with 15 in Week 5 at Arizona.

Chase also owns the single-season record for yards with 1,455, which he set his rookie year. And Houshmandzadeh’s 112-catch record seems certain to fall.

“I do actually have that written down as a goal,” he said.

Chase said he met Houshmandzadeh when he was still at LSU, where Houshmandzadeh’s daughter Karrington played and where his other daughter, Kennedi, played after Chase left for the NFL.

The receiving touchdown records will be harder for Chase to get, but he’s already come close. His three-touchdown game against the Cardinals left him one shy of Marvin Jones’ record set in 2013 against the Jets. And Chase had 13 touchdowns in 2021, which was still four shy of Pickens’ mark set in 1995.

Chase has seven touchdowns through 12 games, so an assault on that mark likely will have to wait another year.

On Monday night, Chase topped the 1,000-yard mark for the third consecutive year on his 76-yard touchdown reception from Jake Browning. He’s just the eighth player in NFL history to accomplish that.

#Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase is the 8th player in NFL history to top 1,000 receiving yards in at least his first 3 seasons.
The others:
Mike Evans, 10
Randy Moss, 6
A.J. Green, 5
Michael Thomas, 4
Shawn Jefferson, 3
Odell Beckham Jr., 3
Justin Jefferson, 3

— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) December 6, 2023

But he shrugged it off.

“If I get five in a row, I’ll be a little happy with myself,” he said. “Right now, I’m not satisfied.”

The NFL record for receptions is 149, set by the Saints’ Michael Thomas in 2019. Chase would need to average 12.8 catches over the final five games to top that.

And former Detroit receiver Calvin Johnson’s record of 1,964 yards in 2012 could be obsolete before long with Miami’s Tyreek Hill bearing down on it with 1,481 and five games to play.

Chase currently is ninth in fan voting for the Pro Bowl. He said making All-Pro and the Pro Bowls are on his list of goals, too, but not that high.

“I’d rather be in the Super Bowl if anything,” he said. “That’s the biggest goal. Hopefully, I can repeat it like I did my rookie year.”

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