Burrow said he remains focused on having a good performance and putting his team in the best position possible to secure a win, but it’s tough to square that with what happened in the nine games he missed due to his Week 2 turf toe injury.
“I feel confident every time I step foot on the field that, you know, we have a great chance to win, and, you know, really this year, I’ve played however many games and we’ve won more than we’ve lost, and I feel good about that,” Burrow said. “All I can do is go out and when I’m out on the field, try to play well, try to win and go from there.”
Burrow played his best season in 2024, coming off 2023 wrist surgery to lead the league in passing yards, touchdowns, completions and pass attempts, only to fall short of his team goals with a 9-8 record. The Bengals overhauled the defensive staff, the linebacking corps and made a few tweaks up front but didn’t start seeing the fruits of those changes until after the bye week when they were sitting at 3-6 and still lost two more games before Burrow’s return.
Since then, Cincinnati is 3-2 but 5-2 overall when Burrow started this season. Burrow still believes he can win a lot of games with the Bengals, but “something’s got to change.”
“We want to be competing for championships every year,” Burrow said. “We don’t want to be in the spot we are in now, so something’s got to change, whether it’s players we have continuing to improve and get better and play championship caliber football, or bringing in guys that will or whatever it may be. Obviously, something has to.”
Burrow has expressed his belief in the coaching staff but has not shared any ideas as to what changes should be made. He was vocal last year about needing his best weapons back, and the Bengals gave extensions and new contracts to wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, as well as tight end Mike Gesicki.
Cincinnati never was able to reach an agreement on an extension for defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who ended up playing seven games before a hip and pelvis injury shut him down before the bye.
Asked if he will have conversations with the higher-ups about changes he would like to see made this offseason, Burrow said “we’ll see” and re-iterated that he has “great communication” with the coaches, director of player personnel Duke Tobin and the front office.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“I think my job is to No. 1, play as well as I can, No. 2, continue to improve, and No. 3, be the conduit between coaching staff, front office and the locker room,” Burrow said. “Relay feelings that players have, relay sentiments in the locker room because coaches and front office, they aren’t down there every day and they don’t understand a lot of the things that go on in the locker room, so I think as quarterback, your job is to relay some of those things.”
Burrow said he’s been having fun the last two games and made clear he had fun last year, too, even though it’s been frustrating at times. That’s “life of playing sports.”
In his sixth year, he’s learned to just focus on the things he can control. And that’s what he will do Sunday against the Browns – a team he considers to have the best defense in the league with Myles Garrett and a tough defensive line and one of the best corners in the league in Denzel Ward.
Garrett is going for the NFL sack record, and Burrow acknowledged Garrett has gotten to him “a lot” over his career (12 times), but Cincinnati’s offensive line is better equipped to handle that challenge in Week 18 than Week 1 when Garrett got him twice.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said the line is playing the best he’s seen since arriving in Cincinnati in 2019.
Burrow plans to go out and “just play football.” Then, the work to getting back to the playoffs in 2026 begins.
“Obviously, you want to win a Super Bowl, you want to win MVPs, you want to be in the playoffs every year,” Burrow said. “My goals at this point are just going out and playing as good as I can and continuing to improve, finding ways to continue to be great and continue to find self improvement.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Browns at Bengals
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
TV: CBS
Radio: 104.7-FM, 700-AM
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