It is the Monday after Madrid, and we are watching The Drive in the office of Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters, home of the NFL's best duo of the decade and maybe more.

The Drive started in the second quarter with the Bengals leading, 14-10. In just under seven minutes on another continent, wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase put all that he has on the table and showed why he's the best in the world and how the Bengals keep finding ways to get him a ball everyone knows is coming to him.

Five catches for 69 yards. Two highlight jobs on third down wrecking man-to-man with hands and eyes.  Plus, a classic speedy catch-and-run by a would-be running back. And, a red-zone dagger from quarterback Joe Burrow in zone coverage. Even a one-yard catch on a look so unique shows how creatively the Bengals are getting him open.

And after all that, the biggest play of the drive came when his strength forced a penalty.

"A lot of different routes. Different areas of the field," says Walters, punching up on his desktop tape of The Drive that gave them a 21-10 lead and control for the rest of the day. "He shows you his catch-and-run, shows you his sideline awareness. He can line up at No. 3. You can run option routes with him. He can run one-on-one isolations. He can really do whatever you want."

How fitting the drive ended with Tee Higgins' 50^th career touchdown catch from four yards out?

Walters knows Chase and Higgins simmer with competitiveness, so two all-time Bengals receiving lists through 2025 dominate the wall over his desk.  Total catches plus touchdowns, and yards.

Now, a halftime away from the halfway point of the season, they continue the climb above Walters' teaching tools.

On the yardage list this season, Higgins has shot past four decades of Bengals into seventh place: T.J Houshmandzadeh ('00s), Darnay Scott ('90s), Tyler Boyd ('10s), and Eddie Brown ('80s). Meanwhile, Chase has leapfrogged Carl Pickens. as well as Isaac Curtis' 7,101 yards that stood as the record for 23 years until Chad Johnson and then A.J. Green passed Sir Isaac.

And, suddenly, Chase is just six touchdowns shy of passing Chad for the franchise lead.

The Drive shows how.

Bengals 12. First and 10: First play of the drive. Chase splits out right. After feigning a longer route, he quickly cuts left in front of cornerback A.J. Terrell. Burrow flips it to him steaming across the middle, where Chase flummoxes safety Xavier Watts with a step-back pop a la Steph Curry, keeps going across the middle, runs through the arm tackle of cornerback Sydney Brown before turning up the left sideline, where tight end Drew Sample gets a good block, and only old friend Jessie Bates III can angle him out of bounds after 31 yards.

"It's just a five-yard route. He does a good job of threatening like he's going deep, so he gets (Terrell) to open up," Walters says. "He comes underneath. He just has a knack when he catches the ball. There are times he even loses ground to make up ground, which he does on (Watts). An uncanny ability to get skinny. He's powerful, so an arm tackle like (Brown) … try to tackle him up high, it's not going to work.

"Jessie's a smart guy. Some guys may not hit that angle and (Chase) may have had more. That just shows you. You throw it five yards to Ja'Marr, and you can get 30."

Bengals 48. Third and 1: Chase is the lone wide receiver, bunched to the left in a three tight-end, one running-back look known as 13 personnel. Burrow is chased from the pocket to the right sideline on a five-man pressure and before getting hit, he flicks a lob for what looks to be a dangerous throw. But he has found Chase by putting it over cornerback Avionne Terrell (Chase made life miserable for the brothers) and in front of Bate. Chase lunged backwards to smother it for 11 yards and the first down.

"Big personnel. We tried to get them into big personnel, go tempo out of the huddle, and throw it. They did a good job of covering," Walters says. "It shows how Joe is playing at a really high level. He's buying time, buying time.  He knows where Ja'Marr is going to end up. He throws it to a spot and then Ja'Marr does a great job coming back and making sure he gets his hands under that ball.

"Joe's still scrambling. He understands. 'Okay, I know where he wants to be, where he's going to end up.' And then Ja'Marr is going to put his foot in the ground, come back, and slide, where he's able to get his hands up under that ball. Pretty impressive.

"You get Ja'Marr going early on, and I think he was in a zone, so to speak, and everything thrown his way, he was going to catch."

Falcons 37. First and 10. According to Next Gen Stats, seven of Chase's 10 catches Sunday came on underneath targets (fewer than 10 air yards) as the Bengals pummeled the Falcons' one-high safety look.

As the Falcons chased Chase, NGS says Burrow saw that look on more than 80% of his 34 drop-backs and hit on 19 of 24 passes for 223 yards. His three touchdown passes against single-high tied for the most by any quarterback in a game this season.

With the Falcons burned deep by Chase for a 47-yard touchdown on the Bengals' fifth play of the game, the Bengals mixed it up and sent Chase underneath in this drive. On this play, Chase and wide receiver Dohnte Meyers lined up tight on the left, and after Sample went in motion left, Chase, on the snap, went the other way across the line of scrimmage and Burrow, after a play-action rollout, passed it to him when he got out in the right flat, where Bates dumped him for a yard gain.

"Now we just want to bring it back behind the backfield. Maybe get him lost behind the line," Walters says. "They did a good job of covering, and Jessie made a good tackle."

Atlanta 36. Third and 9. One of those Chase catches that suspends belief. But it also serves to show defenses the grim reality of blitzing them when it is picked up. And even when it's not.

Running back Chase Brown picked up this zero blitz where a backer popped out at the end. At the last instant, knowing his guys were one-on-one, Burrow gunned it to the left sideline where only Chase could get it.

And, boy, did he get it. He somehow leaped to catch the ball over his head and kept his feet in-bounds for another first down on 14 yards.

A brilliant catch, yes. But it was made possible by his route on A.J Terrell before he broke it off to the left sideline.

"The previous week, we ran a slant and go, so now we're running a slant, go and then break out," Walters says. "So the corner, Terrell, squatted. But Ja'Marr does a good job with his hands right there at the top of the route. He's physical against the corner.  Leans inside, gets him off of him, and then Joe puts it again to a spot … You get that much separation in this league, you're doing something well … He was able to separate at the top of the route using his hands.

"And then, I mean, it's just elite hand-eye coordination and footwork. He makes the catch, number one, which is not easy. Then his legs go dead, go limp, in order to get his feet in bounds. We work on sideline awareness. Toe tap. Deaden the legs. A lot of times, you're worried about your feet, and so you don't catch the ball. Or, sometimes you worry about catching the ball, and you don't keep your feet in.  Total concentration Great catch. He's catching that beyond his eyes. That's over his head, so his eyes aren't on it. That's a tremendous catch."

Atlanta 21. Second and Nine:  Burrow had everybody spread and stood in an empty backfield. Chase, left one-on-one in the slot with A.J. Terrell, got Terrell leaning to the inside, and when he grabbed Chase up around the shoulders as Chase broke outside, Terrell was called for a hold to negate a Burrow sack.

A.J. Terrell is a solid NFL cornerback. But this is how good Chase is. According to NGS, Chase was matched up with him on 13 routes, 11 in man coverage, and caught four of five targets for 103 yards and a touchdown.

"He starts inside, gets (Terrell) to open up inside, and then he's physical right there. Gets the holding call. It shows how strong he is. (Terrell) is a physical player. He gets his hands on (Chase) right there. But Ja'Marr does a great job being physical back, and he's open. He catches that, he may score."

Atlanta 16. First and 10: Next play. Maybe this is why the last few teams have stayed away from playing the Bengals with two-high safeties. That's sure what it looked like when the Falcons dropped into a zone against four wides, and Burrow in empty with Chase in the slot on the right. He ran a choice route in the middle of the field and found himself on linebacker Kendall Daniels. He kept drifting away from Daniels to the outside for an easy 12 yards in the middle of the zone. Higgins scored on the next play with 4:03 left in the half to make it 21-10.

"Just an option route. He's the number three (receiver), so we've got him matched up on the linebacker," Walters says. "He could work left, he could stop, he could work right. So he just puts that guy in a bind. He does a great job of being patient, let's everything clear out outside of him. So now he understands where the void is.

"He's not letting him cross the face, so Ja'Marr is putting his foot in the ground, and works away from him. Joe throws him open. He understands drop-step and he gets vertical immediately. On the option route, you've got to have a feel for open space, when to get open, where to move, where to break. We give them freedom, so Ja'Marr and Joe are on the same page there."

After watching The Drive underneath the Bengals' all-time leaders, Walters moves to the next task on Steelers Week.

"It's hard for a defense to know where he's going to be and if they try to focus on him, we've got other guys," Walters says. "Tee's playing at a high level. You have to pick your poison. We can throw the ball against two-high. If you want to play man and try to get pressure on Joe, there are ways to beat that. We're playing at a  high level, and it's fun to watch those guys go to work."