It turns out after playing all but three of the Bengals’ 69 snaps in last Sunday’s steamy 84 degrees and grabbing 14 catches, there is more All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase thinks he can do more prepping for this Sunday’s game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12) in Minnesota.

As the Bengals stare at their first game after quarterback Joe Burrow went down with turf toe in that win over the Jaguars, Chase is prepared to make that C on his jersey a capital letter.

Following Thursday’s practice in the IEL Indoor Facility, Chase pondered a question about changing his role in Burrow’s absence. One of the reasons he got voted the C by his mates is that during spring and training camp he responded to calls from wide receivers coach Troy Walters and head coach Zac Taylor to be more vocal.

“I still want to be myself, and they still want to be my authentic self. But I also want to speak up more,” Chase said. “I’m not going to say that was Joe’s job, but that was more of his role. I want to say, just being a leader, more of a vocal leader really.

“Like Zac told me at the beginning of the year, and now this is the moment where I have to speak up a little bit and just let the guys know. We’ve got to make sure we’re on top of it today, Thursdays, Fridays any day.”

Chase showed all sorts of leadership during and after the game last Sunday. Following the 31-27 win, he reportedly posted on Instagram clips of the touchdowns of wide receiver Tee Higgins from quarterback Jake Browning, Browning’s one-yard sneak, and Browning’s 13-yarder to wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley. But not his four-yard score from Burrow.

“Just proud of my guys. It was a lot of emotions going on for me,” Chase said. “Just going through adversity, me being tired, seeing Joe go down. It was a lot for me. So I was just taking a moment in just looking at what the guys are doing for what the team does and just taking it all in.”

When Tinsley made his first NFL catch a memorable one-hander over his head, Chase had a leader’s message waiting for him.

“I just told him, ‘You keep making plays, you’re going to be somebody else’s number one,'” Chase said. “And that’s a fact. He keeps making plays like that, he’s going to be in the NFL for a long time.”