Over the past decade or so, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals have really upped the intensity of their rivalry. This season’s two-game series only served to underline that fact. Now, an apology letter could further fan the flames.
The latest in the series of unfortunate events between these teams came in Week 11 when Bengals star wideout Ja’Marr Chase spit on Steelers veteran DB Jalen Rams ey. On the field, no one but Ramsey saw the spit, so the Pittsburgh player was ejected for his reaction.
But after the game, Ramsey cleared the air, and sideline video vindicated him and put the blame solely on Chase for the altercation. Somehow, Chase had the gall to claim he didn’t “spit on nobody.”
Chase was rightly suspended for his actions, turning that saliva launched out of spite and frustration into a costly $500k loogie. The wideout served his suspension on Sunday, watching on as the Bengals lost 26-20 to the Patriots, their fourth straight defeat and seventh in their last eight games.
On Monday, Chase finally issued an apology for what he did through his social media channels. But there were a few very conspicuous elements of the situation that went unnamed.
An apology from #Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase: https://t.co/VJC0wLmOaj pic.twitter.com/tHr8Cb9Jdr
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 24, 2025
While it’s admirable that he put out an apology letter, the two main aspects of the whole altercation were not name-checked whatsoever. No mention of the word “spit” or any of its synonyms, and no mention of Jalen Ramsey.
Chase said he wanted to “personally apologize to everyone within the Pittsburgh Steelers organization.” But apologizing to an entire organization and not even mentioning the guy you actually spat on doesn't seem very personal at all. Chase also didn’t apologize for blatantly lying about "Spitgate" in the locker room after the game.
There’s a lot missing there. And it's amusing to look at how Chase has handled this whole ordeal.
He denied spitting despite clear video evidence, then he even appealed the suspension decision all while he had still not acknowledged that he'd done it (and then lied about it), and finally apologized for his actions without mentioning the action itself, the person against whom the action was directed toward, or the subsequent lie.
Truly quite a tight rope walk, but NFL wideouts used to that sort of thing anyways.