All the preseason and training camp consternation surrounding Ja'Marr Chase was washed away in Week 1 as the first-round WR carved up the Minnesota Vikings to the tune of five receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.
The performance came after a drop-filled preseason and reported struggles during training camp.
Joining Good Morning Football on Wednesday, Chase was asked what he'd say to the naysaying critics who harped on his preseason struggles.
"I like to tell them, 'Enjoy the show.' That's all I can tell them," he said. "A lot of news coming. I've been hearing this since I was young, you know what I'm saying? But I'm not worried about it. This is my job right here, and my job is to catch the football and make plays. So I'ma let them sit back and enjoy the show."
Chase became the first Bengals rookie with 100-plus receiving yards in Week 1 all-time -- fourth rookie in the last 10 seasons with five-plus receptions, 100-plus receiving yards and 1-plus receiving TD in his NFL debut (others: Houston's Will Fuller, Washington's Terry McLaurin and Detroit's T.J. Hockenson).
"I'm not gonna say it was easy, but it sure did look like it, you know what I'm saying," Chase said. "But everything that we practiced, it came real easy to us. But I've got to get faster and better on that game speed of course, lining up faster, knowing what I've got to do quicker and faster. So that'll help me to be even more better on the field."
Chase had more receiving yards in his NFL debut than any of his fellow LSU WRs, Odell Beckham Jr. (72 yards, TD), Jarvis Landry (49 yards), or Justin Jefferson (70), had in their first two games combined.
After his draft-day declaration that he planned to break every franchise record, the rookie receiver played it a little more conservative after his big Week 1.
"Well, I'm trying to break every record that I can," Chase added. "I'm pretty sure I can't break every record, but every record that's meant to be broken. So I'ma make my way and somehow break a record here, break as many as I can, as many as possible."
No player since at least 1950 has had 100-plus receiving yards and 1-plus receiving TD in each of his first two career games -- Fuller (2016) and the Eagles' DeSean Jackson (2008) are the only players since 1950 with 100-plus receiving yards in each of their first two career games.
Facing a Bears defense that got burned for 321 yards and three TDs through the air by the Rams in Week 1, the Joe Burrow-Ja'Marr Chase combo could be in for another big afternoon in Week 2.
