Cincinnati Bengals helmet Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Cincinnati Bengals are facing a pretty horrible as they prepare for the season their season-opening showdown with the New England Patriots is less than a week away but superstar wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is still at practice.

Ja’Marr Chase has refused to practice with the team throughout the offseason and preseason as he seeks a new contract. And with the season-opening showdown with the New England Patriots now just six days away, Chase still has not returned to practice.

“Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase is not practicing today,” Cincinnati Bengals beat writer Ben Baby of ESPN said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.

With the preseason now officially over, this week of practice is geared toward preparation for this week’s game against the Patriots. So the fact that Chase is still not practicing with the team during a game week does not seem to bode well for the possibility that he will be available to play for the team during their regular season opener.

Needless to say, this is pretty horrible news for the Bengals given his importance to the offense, and it led to a lot of reactions on social media.

We’ll have to see whether or not he’s able to suit up this week.

[Ben Baby]