Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase nearly had a Super Bowl-winning connection in the final moments of the Cincinnati Bengals‘ loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
With the game winding down, Burrow’s line got walloped by Aaron Donald and Co. and he was unable to fire off a pass to Chase, who ripped past Jalen Ramsey and went streaking down the field for what would have been a touchdown.
And it turns out Burrow checked to that route at the line of scrimmage.
“I checked to that go route. I was anticipating throwing it and just didn’t quite have the time,” Burrow said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “Like I said, we’ve put that behind us. We lost. We had a great year. We’re going forward.”
Chase, who slammed his helmet into the turf after the play in a rare display of emotion, says he has yet to watch the game back because he’s still mad about coming up short.
“I did my normal routine,” Chase said. “Try to stack the DB (so the cornerback trailed him) and hand play. Try to stack him as late as possible … I took what he gave me and ran with it.”
Two things: It’s impressive (and at this point for him, predictable) that Burrow, with the Super Bowl on the line in the waning moments, made the right check at the line to set up what could have been a game-winner, had the guys in front of him held up.
And two, it’s one heck of a motivating force going into next season for one of the league’s best one-two punches.
