Ja'Marr Chase's comments about being the AFC team to beat have not aged well

The Baltimore Ravens won a crazy game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday despite being down by 10 points on three different occasions. The Ravens managed to force the game to overtime and even though Lamar Jackson had a crucial fumble, luck was on Baltimore's side and they managed to win the game 41-38.

Clearly the score indicates that it was an offensive-heavy day for both teams. Ja'Marr Chase did pretty much whatever he wanted to against the Ravens secondary, tallying 10 catches for 193 yards and two touchdowns and averaging 19.3 yards per catch. Even with those numbers, it wasn't enough to propel Cincinnati to victory and the Bengals are now 1-4 and 0-1 in the AFC North.

With the Bengals' rough start to the season (which hopefully the Ravens put the final nail in the coffin for their 2024 season), it's hard not to think back to the quote Chase had after the Bengals lost to the Patriots (yes, the Patriots) in Week 1. Chase always likes to talk smack, especially about the Kansas City Chiefs, so he decided to say that the Bengals were the best team in the AFC.

"We are the team to beat in the AFC, and we know it," Chase said ahead of the Bengals' Week 2 match-up against the back-to-back defending champions. Yeah, this comment aged like milk.

Ja'Marr Chase's take on the Bengals couldn't be further from the truth

To the Bengals' credit, outside of Week 1, their offense has been electric. Joe Burrow threw for five touchdowns in Cincinnati's loss to Baltimore and somehow that wasn't enough to get them the win. It's been the Bengals' defense that has been a letdown in 2024 and on Sunday, neither defense looked good.

The difference was that the Ravens' defense came through and made a play when it needed to with Marlon Humphrey picking off Burrow after Baltimore scored a touchdown to make it a three-point game. The offense then marched down the field and was able to send the game to overtime. From there, we know what happened.

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With the Bengals now sitting at 1-4, Chase's comments are easy to poke fun at. There was a graphic following this game that said the Bengals were 4-11 against AFC opponents dating back to last year. It's hard to be a playoff contender if you can't beat teams in your conference and that's what the Bengals are dealing with.

Chase has never shied away from talking smack and in 2021 and 2022, it normally worked out for him. The Bengals reached the Super Bowl and AFC Championship Game in those two seasons and it looked like they'd be a team to be reckoned with for years to come but since then, the ball hasn't bounced their way.

The Ravens are fortunate to have won that game and that's the reason we can sit here and laugh at Chase's comments. One less threat in the division is always nice.