Bengals vs. Steelers: Ja’Marr Chase becomes first NFL player in 28 years to pull off this improbable feat

CINCINNATI — Ja’Marr Chase has been forced to catch passes from three different quarterbacks this year, and so far, it hasn’t slowed him down.

The Cincinnati Bengals star wide receiver, who won the Triple Crown last season, is making history once again this year. In the Bengals’ 33-31 victory over the Steelers, Chase caught a franchise record 16 passes for 161 yards. This makes Chase just the second receiver in NFL history to have a 100-yard receiving game with three different starting quarterbacks in the first seven games of a team’s season.

The only other receiver to do so was Jimmy Smith, who accomplished the feat with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1997. (His quarterbacks were Rob Johnson, Steve Matthews and Mark Brunell.)

As for Chase, he reached the 100-yard mark with Joe Flacco at quarterback Thursday night. Before reaching 100 yards, Chase opened the scoring for the Bengals in the second quarter with a short touchdown run.

Besides Flacco, Chase also had a 100-yard receiving game with Joe Burrow and Jake Browning as the starting quarterbacks this season.

In Week 2, Burrow was the starter and although he did not finish the game, Chase passed for 165 yards in a 31-27 victory over the Jaguars. In Week 5, Browning was his starter and he finished with 110 yards in a 37-24 loss to the Lions.

The Bengals’ season began with Burrow at quarterback, but after Burrow injured his toe in Week 2, they were forced to turn to Browning. However, Browning’s experiment only lasted three weeks before he was sent to the bench in favor of Flacco, who was brought in to save the season after Cincinnati made a trade with Cleveland.

No matter who is under center for Cincinnati, as long as they can throw a forward pass, Chase will put up big numbers with them.