Bengals owed Joe Burrow a veteran backup in August

On a dreary day in an empty stadium against a nondescript opponent in a nothing game, Joe Burrow injured his left knee. Early in the third quarter of a game the Bengals were winning, Burrow left the field on a cart. He took the football season with him.

“We were getting the offense in a direction we thought was exciting,” Zac Taylor said after the game Sunday. He was right about that. The coach was finding his stride as a play caller, last week’s disaster at Pittsburgh notwithstanding. You could see that clearly in the first half in suburban Washington. Burrow had little trouble picking apart a good defense. Burrow and his receivers played a possession game, hitting the football equivalent of singles up the middle. Five yards, then 7 yards, then 11, then 13. Zip, zip, zip, 21 completions in the first half, from 29 throws. Establishing rhythm, comfort and a clean pocket. Burrow, again looking refined beyond his years. Taylor, looking like a latterday Bill Walsh.

Then it ended. The fun, the progress, the hope with which St. Joe had blessed beleaguered Bengals fans. Gone until sometime next season.

Now, Joe Burrow is going to get his knee surgically repaired and the only emotion that will run more rampant than despair will be blame. It took less than a minute after Burrow fell, broken, for the Twitter hate machine to start taking bites out of owner Mike Brown. That quickly spread to invective for Taylor, followed by woe-is-us and general malaise. Let’s say this about that:

Mike Brown didn’t do wrong by Burrow or you by going cheap on offensive linemen. Tua Tagovailoa is starting in Miami for a team that went 5-11 last year while allowing its quarterbacks to be sacked 58 times. Justin Herbert is starting for the Chargers, another 5-11 club in ’19. It’s unrealistic to think someone who buys a shiny new car is going to leave it in the garage.

Where Brown went wrong was in deciding, along with Taylor, to run Burrow out to begin the season behind a line that was a mess. Before the season, the Bengals should have signed a dependable veteran quarterback and allowed Burrow time not to get killed.

Burrow rewarded their belief by playing like a five-year vet. He was making the line better. Taylor’s calls were, too. Still, the Bengals started rolling the dice the day they named Burrow the starter. Now they’ll look for the veteran backup they should have looked for in August.

Burrow showed the team what he could do behind a makeshift line. It’s time for the team to show Burrow it can keep him upright. Not every season has to end this way.