Ja’Marr Chase provides bulletin board material for Chiefs after trashing secondary

The Kansas City Chiefs are a wounded animal after a shock loss to the Raiders in Week 16. And Ja'Marr Chase is poking the bear.

The Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver dropped some inflammatory comments about the Chiefs' secondary ahead of their Week 17 matchup on Sunday.

Chase said nothing stands out about the Chiefs secondary: "It's not really like they got a Jalen Ramsey on their squad."

Chase also said he doesn't know who KC safety Bryan Cook (who is on IR) is and that going against that secondary is not the same as going against someone like Jessie Bates. He added that the Chiefs double-team him and Tee Higgins because they know their secondary can't go one-on-one with them.

Ja'Marr Chase gift-wrapped bulletin board material to Chiefs secondary

None of this was said with ignorance as to how the Chiefs might react to hearing it. He also wasn't completely lacking compliments for the defense he's about to face. He credited them for knowing how to play against the Bengals receivers while praising L'Jarius Sneed in particular as the best player on defense.

"I'm just adding fire to the fuel," Chase said. "They're going to take this and run with it. I hope they put it in their locker but it's alright though. As long as I'm mentally ready to play."

The last time Chase faced off with the Chiefs, he had six catches for 75 yards but Kansas City prevailed in the AFC Championship Game. This rematch features two teams that aren't anywhere near as dominant as they were last year.

The Chiefs are coming off that loss to the Raiders. Their only win in the last four games was against the hapless Patriots.

The Bengals lost Joe Burrow to a season-ending injury and have had some positive results with backup Jake Browning. However, they're coming off a blowout loss to the Steelers.

Chase may not be fully healthy for the matchup either. He's been limited in practice with a shoulder injury he sustained against the Vikings.