Ja'Marr Chase, Joe Burrow snap multiple records as Bengals edge Chiefs
Ja'Marr Chase put on a sensational display for the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, setting numerous records in an electrifying 34-31 win against the Kansas City Chiefs.
With a whopping 11 catches for 266 yards and three touchdowns, Chase now holds the NFL record for most receiving yards by a rookie in a single season with 1,429.
For context, Chase accounted for more receiving yards (266) than vaunted Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had passing the football (259).
In getting there, Chase snapped the record held by his former teammate at LSU, wideout Justin Jefferson, who racked up 1,400 yards a season ago in his rookie campaign with the Minnesota Vikings.
Jefferson noted the accomplishment of his former collegiate teammate on Twitter.
Earlier this season, Jefferson said he was rooting for Chase to break his receiving record.
"He’s been doing a great job. He’s killing it, especially having Joe, his college quarterback. I’m proud of him and of Joe and I hope he does break it," Jefferson said in October, via ESPN's Courtney Cronin.
The "Joe" mentioned, of course, is star QB Joe Burrow, another LSU Tiger who was the first overall pick by the Bengals in the 2020 draft.
Burrow torched the Chiefs for 446 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions, completing 30 of his 39 pass attempts — a 76.9% completion rate — for a career-high 148.0 passer rating.
With 4,611 passing yards, Burrow set a new franchise record in the category, surpassing Andy Dalton's previous record of 4,293 set in 2013.
The 25-year-old QB also snapped Dalton's 2013 record of 33 passing touchdowns in a single season, finishing the day with 34.
In his past two games, Burrow has gone 67-for-85 for 971 yards, eight touchdowns and zero picks, becoming the first Bengals QB and fifth QB in NFL history to throw for 400-plus passing yards and four-plus passing touchdowns in back-to-back games.
While those numbers certainly helped many a fantasy football owner, the back-to-back monster performances from Burrow also propelled the Bengals to their first AFC North title since 2015.
Meanwhile, in addition to claiming the single-season receiving yards record for a rookie, Chase also topped the single-game receiving yards record for a rookie, besting Jerry Butler's record of 255 yards set in 1979 with the Buffalo Bills.
He also set the Bengals franchise record for receiving yards in a single game, eclipsing Chad Johnson's single-game record of 260 receiving yards in 2006.
Sensing a theme?
With another regular-season game yet to play, the Bengals will visit the Cleveland Browns to close out the season, Chase and Burrow could be on the hunt for more.
The rookie wideout needs just 12 receiving yards to break Johnson's single-season franchise record of 1,440 receiving yards from 2007. One more touchdown catch for Chase would break the three-way tie he has for second on the list of most receiving touchdowns as a rookie.
With 13 TD grabs to his name, he would need four to tie Randy Moss for No. 1 on that list (17 touchdowns in 1998), and five to break it.
That might be a bridge too far, but not entirely unthinkable, considering the way he and Burrow are vibing at the moment.
Here is how social media reacted to Chase and Burrow's record-setting performances and the division-clinching win for Cincy:
