On Sunday afternoon, the Cincinnati Bengals were officially eliminated from playoff contention with an ugly home loss to the Baltimore Ravens, who exacted revenge for the Thanksgiving matchup between the two teams. It was a particularly brutal day at the office for quarterback Joe Burrow, who threw for 225 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Earlier this week, Burrow raised eyebrows with his comments on the rampant speculation regarding his future as the quarterback in Cincinnati.
“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. I have been through a lot. And if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for?” Burrow said, per The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov.
After the game against the Ravens, Burrow provided more context to those comments.
“My comments had nothing to do with Cincinnati. My comments had to do with … football,” he said, per Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic.
“When your QB plays like that, you’re not gonna have a chance to win. That was on me,” he added, per Jay Morrison of BengalsTalk.com.
Overall, this season the Bengals will miss the playoffs for the third straight year on the heels of their deep playoff runs in 2021 and 2022. Burrow's health concerns became a major issue again this season, with the quarterback being out of the lineup from Week 2 until Thanksgiving due to a toe injury.
While it's unlikely that the team will explore the possibility of trading him this season, it's clear that something needs to change for the Bengals.
