In the AFC North, the 2020s have belonged so far to the Bengals. Cincinnati has won two of the three division titles awarded this decade and the 2021 AFC title, and nearly repeated as AFC champions in ’22.
However, the Bengals have frequently been vanquished in the last three years by an unlikely rival: the Browns.
Cleveland, despite a mostly mediocre decade since its 2020 playoff appearance, is 5–1 against Cincinnati since ’20. Despite the Bengals’ struggles in the Battle of Ohio, wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase brushed off suggestions that his team has a Browns problem.
“It’s a regular game to me,” Chase said. “It’s just the hooping [sic] and hollering about the Cleveland... Browns. I was about to call them the (elves).”
"It's a regular game to me."
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) September 7, 2023
"It's just the hooping and hollering about the Cleveland Browns. I was about to call them the elf's (elves)."
Ja'Marr Chase doesn't want to hear about the #Bengals recent struggles against the Browns. @fox19 pic.twitter.com/adiQ20Y6iO
Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett took humorous exception to Chase’s apparent denigration of Brownie the Elf, a symbol of the team dating back to its early days in the All-America Football Conference.
“He didn’t have to go there. He knew better,” Garrett said, smiling. “I’ll have to discuss it with him before or after the game. Maybe during if I see him during it. But the elf’s a little bit too far.”
#Browns Myles Garrett acknowledges #Bengals Ja’Marr Chase went too far with the “elves” thing. Says he might have to talk to him before or after the game pic.twitter.com/LRlpWFsu5k
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) September 8, 2023
Garrett and Chase will get the chance to settle any spat on the field Sunday when the Bengals travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns at 1 p.m. ET.
