Nothing about this Bengals season has been simple, and Joe Burrow’s looming Thanksgiving decision might be the most complicated call yet. Cincinnati just fell to 3-8 after pushing a 10-win Patriots team without Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Trey Hendrickson, and, by the end, Tee Higgins.
Now the franchise has to decide whether it makes any sense to put its recovering quarterback on the field against the Ravens in a season that is hanging by a thread.
In his Sports Illustrated column, Albert Breer walks through how close Burrow was to playing against New England. The QB practiced fully on Wednesday, practiced fully again on Thursday, and by that night, many inside the building believed he was on track to start.
There was some soreness on Friday, but no true setback. The real pivot point came that morning, when the staff sat down with Burrow and decided to give it one more week, factoring in that the Bengals play two games in five days and needed Joe Flacco to take that day’s reps. Burrow wanted to go. Zac Taylor, who has known the Burrow family for years, effectively had to protect him from himself.
That brings everything back to the same question Breer asks himself: Should Burrow play Thursday if he’s cleared? On one hand, you have an ultra-competitive franchise player desperate to compete in prime time against a hated division rival.
On the other hand, you have a surgically repaired toe, a 3-8 record, and a front office that has to think about the next five years as much as the next five days.
The stakes around his health go beyond one holiday showcase. As one TV analyst recently put it when comparing him to Anthony Davis, Burrow is an undoubted superstar whose only real flaw is availability.
The Bengals know exactly what he can do for them when he is right. The real debate now, just as Breer frames it, is whether chasing a slimshot 2025 miracle is worth even a small added risk to the guy whose entire future depends on it.
