Ja’Marr Chase has a simple read on why this Bengals camp feels different: Joe Burrow is walking around with an edge, and Chase wants more of it.
“I like it when he’s f**king pissed off,” Chase told NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe during a camp interview posted Aug. 9. “I’m not gonna lie, I like it when he’s like that. I like the fire that he has. He don’t always bring it out. He maybe did it once or twice since camp started, but I like it. I love the fire when he has it. His demeanor is just more aggressive. His face is more aggressive, the way he talks is more aggressive, and he got like a little mean mug on his face.”
Why Burrow’s mood is actually a storyline
That quote is the kind of thing that gets clipped and forgotten in 24 hours unless you attach it to what came before it. Burrow’s 2025 season ended before it really started. He suffered a Grade 3 turf toe injury in Week 2 against Jacksonville, needed surgery, and landed on injured reserve for what became a nine-game absence, according to SI’s Bengals coverage.
Cincinnati went 5-3 in the games Burrow did start, with him completing 173 of his passes for 1,809 yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions. Without him, the season came apart. The Bengals finished 6-11, their worst record since 2020, and missed the playoffs for a third straight year.
So when Chase says he’s noticing a meaner version of Burrow at camp, it reads less like a throwaway quote and more like a teammate watching for signs that last year’s frustration turned into fuel. Burrow has been publicly candid about the toll the injury took on him, telling reporters this offseason it affected him “mentally and physically” and that he returned roughly a month earlier than expected.
What Chase and Burrow are chasing this year
Chase enters his sixth season paired with Burrow, and the numbers make clear why the connection matters as much as any single quote about demeanor. Even in a lost season, Chase caught 125 passes for 1,412 yards and eight touchdowns, production that came almost entirely with Burrow either hurt or working around it.
Cincinnati has not been back to the playoffs since its AFC Championship run two seasons after the franchise’s Super Bowl LVI appearance. Ending that drought starts with Burrow staying on the field, which is why his camp intensity is being read as a data point rather than dismissed as noise. A Bengals quarterback who’s still frustrated about last season, and still healthy enough to show it physically at camp, is a different proposition than one who’s simply saying the right things.
Cincinnati opens the 2026 season at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. ET, part of the team’s “Open in Orange” tradition at Paycor Stadium, according to the Bengals’ official schedule announcement. It’s the first real measuring stick for whether an angrier, healthier Burrow translates into the version of this offense that ended three years ago.
