Just when Cincinnati Bengals fans thought this season couldn't get worse, Ja'Marr Chase spat on Jalen Ramsey during the fourth quarter of Sunday's 34-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers to provide the ugliest moment of a brutal year.
It was also another sign that the Bengals may be the league's most undisciplined team.
Cincinnati dropped its third straight to fall to 3-7 in a game that included frequent missed tackles by the defense, a second-string opposing quarterback completing passes at will and Chase losing his composure.
The NFL announced Monday that the fifth-year wide receiver would be suspended without pay for one game.
“It’s incredibly difficult to believe when there’s adversity, when you’ve lost seven of your last eight games, that’s when the real work has come in. I probably had 12 conversations in my office this morning, because it’s the foundation of everything we got to build this thing on,” coach Zac Taylor said Monday.
Taylor said he discussed the spitting incident with Chase on Monday before the league announced the suspension. Taylor also defended his All-Pro receiver and said the moment did not reflect Chase's entire body of work.
“Ja’Marr’s one of my favorite players. I love how this guy handles everything that he’s been a part of, so making one mistake doesn’t disregard everything this guy’s done that’s been positive for us," Taylor said. “We’re not all perfect. We’re going to make a mistake here and there, but I stand by Ja’Marr. I know it’s an emotional situation. I know there’s a lot of things going on there that lead to things like that. We’ll just continue to move forward.”
According to Sportradar, the Bengals missed 17 tackles against the Steelers, the third time in the last five games that they had at least that many. It also was the ninth straight game in which Cincinnati allowed 27 points or more, equaling the 2020 Los Angeles Chargers and 1964 Denver Broncos for the longest in-season streak in league history.
Since tackling is a combination of technique and effort, Taylor is running out of things to say about a defense that ranks at the bottom of the league in most categories.
“I understand some of it looks bad. You can’t run from that. And the hard part was, there were some situations we were great on first and second down. We got them into the situations we wanted, you know, second-and-long, third-and-long, and then you just got to get a guy down in space. And we didn’t do a good enough job of that,” Taylor said.
The Bengals also continue to struggle in pass coverage. Mason Rudolph, who came in after Aaron Rodgers suffered a left wrist injury, was 11 for 11 for 110 yards and a touchdown on throws under 10 air yards. Rudolph was only the third QB this season to be perfect on underneath throws with at least 10 attempts.
Converting on third down. The Bengals are 23 of 48 on third down over the past four games, with the 47.9% conversion rate ranking third in the league over that span.
Generating takeaways. The Bengals have not forced a turnover in three straight games.
RB Chase Brown had 99 yards on 18 carries, including two of at least 10 yards. Of his 52 rushes in the past four games, 10 have gone for double-digit yards. He had only two carries for at least 10 yards the first six games.
LB Barrett Carter had four missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus, and allowed five receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown. One of the missed tackles came on a 31-yard reception by Dwayne Washington to set up a Steelers field goal that made it 10-6 at halftime.
QB Joe Burrow (toe) could start participating in 11-on-11 drills on Wednesday. ... Taylor said CB Cam Taylor-Britt is likely done for the season and is expected to have Lisfranc surgery on his left foot. ... TE Cam Sample (oblique) is week to week and DE Trey Hendrickson (hip) is likely to miss a third straight game.
4 — Consecutive games in which the Bengals have given up at least 30 points, a franchise record.
33.4 — Average points per game allowed by Cincinnati, the most in the league since the 1966 New York Giants (35.8).
The Bengals host AFC-East leading New England (9-2). The Patriots have won eight straight.
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Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (24) tries to tackle Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown (30) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell (14) scores a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor speaks with an official during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Footage obtained by The Associated Press of a cruise ship at the center of a rare-virus outbreak shows deserted decks and gathering areas, medical teams in protective gear, and a still landscape ahead as the vessel and its nearly 150 passengers and crew waited another day for direction and help off the coast of West Africa.
Three passengers have died and at least four people are sick in what health officials say is an outbreak of hantavirus, which usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings. The World Health Organization said passengers are isolating in their cabins and that the vessel — in the Atlantic off Cape Verde — might be moved to Spain’s Canary Islands. But Spanish officials said Tuesday that they were monitoring the situation and haven't made a decision.
The MV Hondius, a Dutch ship on a weekslong polar cruise, departed April 1 from Argentina for Antarctica and several isolated islands in the South Atlantic.
“Our days have been close to normal, just waiting for authorities to find a solution,” passenger Qasem Elhato, 31 — who sent AP the video footage — said via WhatsApp. “But morale on the ship is high and we’re keeping ourselves busy with reading, watching movies, having hot drinks and that kind of things.”
Helene Goessaert, another passenger, told Belgian broadcaster VRT that everyone onboard is “in the same boat, literally.”
“You don’t embark on a trip with the idea that one of your fellow passengers won’t make it,” she said.
“We receive information at regular intervals. It is accurate. For the rest, it is a waiting game,” she added. “Today we received fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. That was very important to us.”
Authorities in Cape Verde have said they sent teams of doctors, surgeons, nurses and laboratory specialists to the Hondius. They were seen in Elhato's video footage — wearing white overalls, boots and face masks as they disembarked to a smaller vessel.
Officials in Cape Verde’s capital of Praia, a city of less than 200,000 people, said they have stepped up safety protocols, particularly near the port, as a precautionary measure against the rodent-borne illness — which doesn't usually spread person to person, though health authorities say it might be possible.
Elhato said passengers were wearing masks and social distancing — practices that became hallmarks of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said it had implemented its highest level of response plan, with isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring.
WHO said late Monday that sick passengers would soon be evacuated to the Netherlands for medical care. But it remained unclear Tuesday when any evacuations would happen.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the ship would “continue on to the Canary Islands.”
“We’re working with Spanish authorities, who will welcome the ship,” Van Kerkhove said, emphasizing that sick passengers would first be moved.
But Spanish health officials said in a statement that they were monitoring and that "the most appropriate port of call will be decided. Until then, the Ministry of Health will not adopt any decision, as we have informed the World Health Organization.”
WHO said Tuesday that it's looking at seven cases in all — three people who have died, one critically ill passenger who was previously taken off the ship, and three onboard reporting mild symptoms.
Two of the cases — a woman who died and the evacuated man — tested positive for hantavirus.
A Dutch man was the first death, on April 11. His body was taken off the vessel nearly two weeks later, on the British territory of St. Helena, some 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) off the African coast, according to South Africa’s Department of Health.
His wife traveled by plane from St. Helena to South Africa; she collapsed at a Johannesburg airport and died at a hospital on April 26, according to WHO and the South African Department of Health.
The ship sailed on to Ascension Island, an isolated Atlantic outpost about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the north, where a sick British man was taken off the ship and evacuated first to Ascension Island and then to South Africa by plane. He is in intensive care in a South African hospital, according to WHO.
Van Kerkhove said that WHO is investigating possible human-to-human transmission on the ship, and that officials suspect the first infected person likely contracted the virus before boarding. She said officials have been told there are no rats on board.
Officials in Argentina — where hantavirus led to 28 deaths nationwide last year, according to the health ministry — said they confirmed no passengers had symptoms when the Hondius departed. Symptoms can appear up to eight weeks after exposure, officials have said.
In South Africa, authorities said they have started contact tracing — another practice used extensively in the coronavirus pandemic. But officials have emphasized that the chance of a major public health threat is low.
Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria; Risemberg from Dakar, Senegal. AP journalists Suman Naishadham in Madrid; Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg, South Africa; Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
The MV Hondius cruise ship is anchored at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Monday, May 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Arilson Almeida)
Research scientist Robert Nofchissey prepares samples of inactivated material as part of hantavirus research at the Center for Global Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Monday, May 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people remains off Cape Verde on Monday, May 4, 2026 after three passengers died and several others fell seriously ill in a suspected hantavirus outbreak. (Qasem Elhato via AP)
A view of the inside of the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people as it remains off Cape Verde on Monday, May 4, 2026 after three passengers died and several others fell seriously ill in a suspected hantavirus outbreak. (Qasem Elhato via AP)
Health workers get off the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people as it remains off Cape Verde on Monday, May 4, 2026 after three passengers died and several others fell seriously ill in a suspected hantavirus outbreak. (Qasem Elhato via AP)
