Ja’Marr Chase’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty has now hurt him financially.
The Cincinnati Bengals‘ star wide receiver was fined $31,599 Saturday for his emotional outburst toward a referee during the team’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday.
The Bengals were at the Chiefs’ 34-yard line when Joe Burrow found Chase for a 4-yard completion.
As Chase got up to head to the huddle, he gave referee Alex Kemp an earful about the tackle by Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie.
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Chase was dragged back to the huddle, and Burrow pushed the star wide receiver away from Kemp after the penalty. It halted any momentum the Bengals were creating at the time and led to an Evan McPherson field goal.
The Chiefs eventually won, 26-25.
Kemp said officials told Chase they didn’t believe McDuffie’s tackle was a hip-drop violation, which would have resulted in a penalty.
“It’s pretty clear-cut,” Kemp said of the reasoning for Chase’s penalty. “It’s just simply abusive language toward a game official. That’s all it was. And there was really no interpretation. I’m not going to repeat to you what he said, but there was no interpretation with the language that he used. Just abusive language.”
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“The simple answer is profanity used by grown men versus direct, personal abusive language toward a game official,” Kemp added. “That’s the line. When that line gets crossed, we simply can’t let that happen in pro football.”
The NFL said Chase committed “verbal abuse of an official.”
It was a tough loss for Cincinnati, which is 0-2 after missing the playoffs last year, largely due to Burrow’s season-ending injury.
The Bengals need to get right and are expected to do so Monday night when they host Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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