Bengals' Tee Higgins and Chase Brown Talk 2025 NFL Season, Super Bowl and More in B/R Interview

The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are preparing for the Super Bowl, but it wasn't that long ago the Cincinnati Bengals were doing the same with one of the brightest futures in the league on the horizon.

Yet things change quickly in the NFL, as they can attest to better than most after a third straight season without a playoff appearance.

Fortunately for Bengals fans, that new reality is serving as a motivating factor to return to the upper echelon of the league for some of the team's top offensive playmakers.

"It's motivating, man," running back Chase Brown told Bleacher Report when discussing Cincinnati's third-place finish in the AFC North. "We feel like we're so close. Once we put everything together and get everything rolling at the same time, we're going to be really good and hard to stop."

Cincinnati reached the Super Bowl and AFC Championship Game in back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022 right before Brown arrived as a 2023 draft pick, but the core of Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins as dynamic and young offensive playmakers suggested there were Lombardi Trophies to come even after falling just short.

However, injuries and poor defensive showings reared their ugly head during the last three years, never more so than when Cincinnati went 6-11 when Burrow was limited to just eight games in 2025.

"It's tough," Higgins said. "We play this game to make it to the game that's about to happen in the next few weeks. But when you don't make the playoffs, you sit down and reflect on the season and come back in the offseason to come back stronger and put a plan together to make a run."

And it isn't difficult to envision such a run as soon as 2026.

After all, Cincinnati was 5-3 in Burrow's eight starts this past season in a painful reminder about what could have been had he stayed healthy in a loaded offense that features Brown in the backfield and Higgins and Chase as arguably the best receiver combination in the league.

"It made things so much easier when all the playmakers were out there," Brown said. "With all our guys out on the field, it makes it much easier to plan and attack the defense."

Even without all those top playmakers available in every game, Brown still turned in his best individual season. While the 2023 fifth-round pick started his career as a secondary option who was overshadowed by the star power of Burrow, Chase and Higgins, he is now a go-to option.

The Illinois product tallied 1,019 yards and six touchdowns on the ground to go with 69 catches for 437 yards and five touchdowns in the aerial attack during the 2025 campaign. He posted eight games with more than 100 yards from scrimmage on his way to 1,456 in total.

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"I feel like the game has slowed down for me every single year in the league," Brown said. "Going forward, I just need to keep on making myself available and keep on getting better. Most importantly, I just have to make the plays that come my way.

"Football really isn't as hard as people make it seem like it is. You have plays for you, and you just make the plays that come your way. That's how you keep on getting better."

Higgins made plenty of plays that came his way as well even though the Bengals cycled through Burrow, Joe Flacco and Jake Browning under center.

The quarterback carousel provided anything but stability for the receivers, but he still managed to put up impressive numbers despite missing two games himself with 59 catches for 846 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Clemson product finished with a career-high in touchdowns and had multitouchdown games against playoff teams in the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills.

Higgins said he "for sure" takes pride reflecting back on his production during a turbulent season for the offense and added, "We went through three different quarterbacks, and that's tough on a receiver.

"But when the opportunities come my way, it's my job to make the best of those opportunities and catch the ball. I'm just trying to do what I'm getting paid to do to the best of my ability."

Making the best of those chances leads to plenty of opportunities off the field as well, and Higgins and Brown teamed up with Bounty to promote the company's newest campaign ahead of the Super Bowl.

Bounty believes it is the ultimate wingman for football viewing, so it was fitting that a pair of teammates and offensive playmakers were involved in the campaign.

"It's the old saying, you can't have football without wings and you can't have wings without Bounty," Higgins said.

"It's been great," Brown said of the partnership. "I wanted to partner with Bounty because of all the parties I have or watching football with my family, you have wings and all this messy food so you've got to be able to clean up."

They will be watching the Seahawks and Patriots square off with the Lombardi Trophy on the line and are at least familiar with what New England will bring to the table.

With Flacco under center and Burrow still sidelined, Cincinnati fell just short in a 26-20 loss to the AFC champions in Week 12. Brown ran for 107 yards as the team's offensive star that day, but he is remaining neutral instead of offering advice to the Seahawks.

"For me, I've got friends on both teams," he said. "To me it doesn't really matter who wins, but it should be a great event."

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As for Higgins, he understands what it is like to perform at his best on the sport's biggest stage. After all, he scored two touchdowns in the Bengals' Super Bowl LVI loss to the Los Angeles Rams and surely knows some of the offensive playmakers in this game will look to follow in his footsteps and find the end zone.

With Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Stefon Diggs, Kenneth Walker and Rhamondre Stevenson all taking the field, someone figures to break through and make the difference.

"Both defenses are really good, so I'm looking forward to seeing which offense can really drive the ball down the field," Higgins said. "I would like to see a high-scoring game."

If everything goes according to plan and the Bengals remain healthy, perhaps it will be their high-octane offense participating in a high-scoring game in next season's Super Bowl.