Pro Bowl Selections Send Message For Zac Taylor; Catch If You Can Tireless Ja'Marr Chase And Steelers Nemesis Tee Higgins; Mims, Chase Brown Game-Time Calls | QUICK HITS

This is one message Bengals head coach Zac Taylor didn't have to send to his young players.

The fans who voted quarterback Joe Burrow, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and left end Trey Hendrickson to the Pro Bowl Thursday did it for him.

"To have three of our hardest-working players make it to the Pro Bowl? Shocking," said Taylor with sarcasm as cutting as a Chase slant after Thursday's practice. "There are others I'm sure, but I know those three guys have done everything they can to put themselves in this position to do this.

"It should send a clear message to everybody. They're very talented and get the most out of their abilities. But they also work around the clock as hard as anybody else. Pretty cool to see three guys like that be rewarded."

Chase, on the verge of the third receiving Triple Crown this century, has shown off his work ethic with endurance numbers as impressive as his receiving numbers.

Since the Bengals eased to a win in Carolina in the fourth game of the year, Chase has not played fewer than 87% of the snaps. He's taken this win-or-go home stuff to heart.

In December, when a loss would have knocked them out of the playoff hunt, he had enough juice on his 66^th and last snap of the game to spin away for the winning 40-yard touchdown in Dallas. Last Saturday against the Broncos, he played the second most snaps of his career with 88 and missed just two plays. In the Nov. 17 game before the bye in L.A., he missed just one of the 82 plays.

"The number of snaps he takes is insane," Taylor said. "I do my best to feel him when he needs a break from a play-call standpoint. Not even coming off the field. Just not being featured."

It seems like Chase can run so far forever. Taylor can't remember the game, but it was this year at Paycor going toward the home tunnel.

"I knew how tired he was. I didn't care. Throw him the ball," Taylor said.

TEE UP THE LOVE

Tee Higgins' idol, A.J. Green, is the Bengals' all-time leading receiver against the Steelers with 1,218 yards for eight touchdowns in 16 games.

But Higgins goes into Saturday's regular-season finale in Pittsburgh (8 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 9 and ESPN) leading the all-time list with 92 yards per game in seven appearances against the Steelers.

Two of his top four games (148 yards in 2022 and 140 in 2023) have come in Pittsburgh, and four of his 14 100-yard games are against the Steelers. Last month at Paycor Stadium, Higgins pushed around Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to draw three penalties and he beat cornerback Cam Sutton for one of his career-high 10 touchdown catches during a 69-yard day.

"Every time we go into Pittsburgh, it's a tough atmosphere. They have die-hard fans just like Cincinnati," Higgins said this week. "Get to waving those towels. It kind of gives you a boost. It's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting. It's going to be electric."

One thing that's been a constant for the Bengals against the Steelers, from Higgins to Green (76 yards per game against Pittsburgh) to Issac Curtis (five touchdowns through The Steel Curtain) is the hitting, and that's what Higgins expects Saturday.

"Physical team. Always has been since I got here. I expect that any time we play," Higgins said.

Told he needs 142 yards to get to 1,000 yards for the third time, Higgins said, "I've done it before."

It could also be Higgins' last game as a Bengal as he's immersed in love from Burrow lobbying management to the Paycor fans serenading him after every catch ("Tee-eee-ee") to defensive tackle B.J. Hill noticing the media crowd around Higgins' locker and chanting "We love you, Tee."

"I'm not opposed to staying here. Obviously, it has to be right," Higgins said of a potential deal.

"Right now, I'm thinking about winning this game and dealing with it after the season."

As he thought about Burrow and Chase, Higgins mused about telling future generations how he played with one of the great quarterbacks and a Triple Crown receiver.

UNDERDOG STORY

Backup tackle Devin Cochran has seen all but one of his first 151 NFL snaps come in the last three weeks as he's come off the bench to help keep the Bengals unscathed in the playoff chase.

With Taylor basically calling rookie right tackle Amarius Mims (ankle/hand) a game-time decision after he didn't practice Thursday, we could see Cochran again.

Either way it works out, what a three weeks it's been for him.

He found out he was making his first start in Tennessee about 90 minutes before the Dec. 15 game when Cody Ford got ill and couldn't back up left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. The next week against Cleveland, Cochran played 22 snaps as Mims dealt with those ankle and hand issues and last Saturday night he played the final 60 snaps after Mims took the first 30.

And, oh yeah, he missed Tuesday's walkthrough when his first child, Ezekiel "Zeke," Cochran, was born in the middle of the night.

Following it all has been offensive line guru Jim McNally, the Bengals' long-time assistant coach on their first two Super Bowl teams and later a consultant to offensive line coach Frank Pollack.

It was when he was a consultant a few years ago during the undrafted Cochran's rookie year that McNally bumped into him in the lobby of the AC Hotel at The Banks.

"He gave me a compliment of how I looked in training camp. I was like, 'Really?'' Cochran said this week. "From that point on. The next offseason I was looking for some trips I could make to find out different things like I do every year. I reached out and he was excited to help."

Cochran went to the 81-year-old McNally's hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., for a couple of days and got the full Mac treatment, which is intense teaching all the time.

"Dude, he's a maniac. You ever see him do pullups?" Cochran asked. "He's big on fast feet, fast hands, proactive hands. Taking the fight to the defender. Like Frank," Cochran said. "Eliminating time and space."

Cochran, a Vanderbilt undergrad and Georgia Tech grad student, is used to homework. He consumes it all from Pollack and assistant O-line coach Derek Frazier. And if he can do or get extra, he does. McNally has also been sending along critiques. There may be a 60-year gap there, but football closes it fast.

"He's been happy and that's been awesome," said Cochran, who knows his own game. "I think (he likes) the mindset. He's an old-school guy. He likes that brawling, brutal type of thing."

SLANTS AND SCREENS

Taylor says along with Mims, running back Chase Brown (ankle) is a game-time call after not practicing this week …

Next up would be Khalil Herbert in his eighth game as a Bengals following the trade with the Bears. He had two high-profile overtime carries for 21 yards in last Saturday's overtime.

"He's a smart guy. He's really smart," Burrow said this week. You could tell that in the first week that he got here. We weren't having to tell him what to do on a ton of plays, and that's rare. He makes plays when he gets his opportunity. He had a big play for us last week. Chase went down and he came in there on multiple drives and played well for us. So, I have a lot of confidence in him." …

And there's Ford, who never knows quite when he'll start. It was at left guard the last time they played the Steelers back on Dec. 1 and Mims blanked defending sack champ T.J. Watt. Ford has also started at left tackle and as an extra tight end.

"He's got general football awareness and he's been able to use that and go play multiple positions," Taylor said. "He's got the size and the power. He has the athleticism and uses it the right way to give himself a chance to win." …

Taylor said he protected tight end Drew Sample (groin) this week and didn't practice him before calling him "questionable." But he gave him the green -light, good news for the Bengals' pass protections against the Steelers' varied pressure looks …