Ja'Marr Chase's Status for Bengals vs. Texans Uncertain Because of Back Injury

Cincinnati Bengals star Ja'Marr Chase's status for Sunday's game against the Houston Texans after the wideout suffered a back injury during a 24-18 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Week 9.

The third-year receiver was shaken up after landing on his back while attempting to haul in a deep ball. He was, however, able to return to the game.

He had four catches for 41 yards in the win, pushing his season totals to 64 receptions for 697 yards and four touchdowns.

Chase missed four games last season due to a hip injury suffered in a Week 6 win over the New Orleans Saints. He aggravated the problem the following week against the Atlanta Falcons, derailing what was a stellar start to his second NFL season.

Chase had 47 receptions for 605 yards and six touchdowns at the time of the injury, putting him on pace for a second straight 1,000-yard season. He finished with 87 catches for 1,046 yards and nine touchdowns despite being limited to 12 games.

Cincinnati relied on Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd to pick up the slack with the LSU product out of the lineup. Higgins returned to his perch as Joe Burrow's favorite target and pulled together two 100-yard games in Chase's absence.

If Chase is sidelined, it's likely they will look to target Higgins more often once again.

Cincinnati is looking to return to the postseason for the third straight year, and having Chase healthy against the AFC gauntlet will be paramount to those chances.