Chase led the team with six catches for 62 yards despite it all. He played in 40 of the 48 offensive snaps, but had just six targets in the entire game. Asked if Sunday’s game plan was affected by his limited time on the practice field, Chase deferred the question to his head coach.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You’ll have to ask (Bengals head coach) Zac (Taylor) — I don’t know.”

Zac Taylor nodded in agreement when asked after the 16-10 defeat whether that was indeed the case.

“Just not a good rhythm,” Taylor said of the offensive struggles. “I can’t put my finger on what it was. I felt like we had a good game plan, guys knew what to do.”

The Bengals went three-and-out on their first three possessions, giving up a fumble near the goal line on the only chain-moving drive of the first half. After another turnover on a punt return and a turnover on downs, Cincinnati’s first score of the game didn’t come until late in the third quarter.

With the Bengals defense playing well despite their offensive inefficiencies, there was still a chance to pull out a victory in the fourth quarter. Down by six points, Joe Burrowand Co. began a potential game-winning drive from their own 30-yard line with just over three minutes left in the game.

Two incomplete passes (neither intended for Chase) and a short pass to running back Zack Moss set up a three-and-out. Cincinnati never saw the ball again after trusting its defense to get the ball back with three timeouts remaining.

Chase referenced that final drive when asked what was most frustrating about the loss, but the wideout is looking forward to erasing the disappointment next Sunday when the Bengals visit the 1-0 Kansas City Chiefs.

“We’re pros,” Chase said. “We’ve got to forget about it and move on to next week.”