Zac Taylor updates injury statuses for Ja'Marr Chase, Joe Mixon as Bengals prep for Chiefs

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor gave an update on two of his skill players as the team gets ready to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

The Week 13 matchup will be the AFC’s best game of the week as Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes are two of the league’s best quarterbacks and are matching up for a third time in their careers. Burrow has a 2-0 record against Mahomes so far.

Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase returned to practice last week as a limited participant but did not play against the Titans. The hope is that he’ll be able to play against Kansas City but Taylor wants to refrain from making any declarations until he knows for sure if Chase can play.

As far as why Chase couldn’t play against the Titans, Taylor said the team is really glad he got an extra week of practice before getting back into game action right away.

“I think it was just more he was off of it for four weeks, last week allowed him to get on the grass and run routes,” Taylor said. “Now, not playing in that game, he could've had the contact, but it was really good to get him a week of back into football mode and now next week and again take it day-to-day to see where he's at and I think we'll all feel better about a guy coming off an injury whose actually had a week of practice. That's what you get to do with those IR guys often times, I know he's a week earlier than that, but you get the 21-day window to get him back into the feel of things before putting them back out there on the game field. I feel like we've handled this the right way."

Chase injured his hip in October and has missed four games. The Bengals are 3-1 without him but there’s no question the team will get a boost when he can get back on the field.

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Bengals RB Joe Mixon still in concussion protocol

Running back Joe Mixon remains in the concussion protocol.

“He's still in it, he's not through it yet, but making progress," Taylor said.

Mixon left Cincinnati’s Week 11 game against the Steelers in the first half with a concussion and was not able to play against Tennessee. With Mixon out, the Bengals relied on Samaje Perine and Trayveon Williams to carry the load and they succeeded in their roles. Cincinnati had one of its best rushing performances of the year on Sunday against the Titans.

The Bengals (7-4) will kick off against the Chiefs (9-2) at 4:25 p.m. ET at Paycor Stadium on Sunday.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ja'Marr Chase, Joe Mixon injury updates for Week 13 Bengals vs Chiefs