5 bold Minnesota Vikings predictions vs. the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 15

Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson will both put on a show

When the schedule came out, Saturday’s game was billed as a 2019 LSU Tigers reunion. While Joe Burrow will be watching from the sidelines after suffering a season-ending wrist injury, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase will both be looking to grab the upper hand as they’ll be on the field together for the first time since college.

Jefferson’s season has been riddled by injuries, including a chest injury that knocked him out of last week’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders. While he went to the hospital due to the hit from Raiders safety Marcus Epps, it was more of a precaution, and he should be ready to go for Saturday’s game in Cincinnati.

This is bad news for the Bengals, who placed Cam Taylor-Britt on injured reserve on December 4. According to Pro Football Focus, Jefferson has the seventh-best matchup against all Bengals secondary members and should be the focal point of Kevin O’Connell’s offense, which struggled mightily with Josh Dobbs under center.

But while Jefferson could have a big game, Chase could be in line for an even bigger one. Brian Flores will likely dial up plenty of blitzes to keep Bengals backup Jake Browning under pressure, but it could mean a lot of one-on-one coverage with Chase taking on Byron Murphy Jr. and Akayleb Evans.

For what it’s worth, PFF has Chase’s matchup with the Vikings’ secondary listed as the third-best among this week’s games.

The game plan of both offenses should be to get their star receivers the ball, and it could lead to a competition within the game to see which former Bayou Bengal comes out on top.