Bengals don’t believe Burrow could return
None of the seven team’s remaining on the Bengals’ 2023 schedule has a losing record. In fact, there are two current divison leaders (the AFC South’s Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 13 and a New Year’s Eve tilt against the AFC West’s Kansas Chiefs) still ahead.
There are also several upcoming matchups against AFC North rivals with games against the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday as well as Dec. 2, and against the Cleveland Browns in the regularseason finale.
Suffice to say, at 5-5 overall and 1-5 in conference games, Cincinnati faces an uphill climb to make the playoffs. They already sit behind the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos in the hunt.
That’s before even mentioning the Bengals would have to reach the postseason without injured quarterback Joe Burrow, who tore a wrist ligament in a 34-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens last
Thursday.
But if they could make it happen, if they could stick around long enough, is it possible that Burrow could return to the team during the playoffs?
“I would not think so,” coach Zac Taylor said this week.
Burrow was present at the team’s walk-through on Monday, but it is backup Jake Browning who is expected to run the show for the duration.
Browning took most of the snaps as the Bengals’ starter in training camp when Burrow was sidelined with a calf strain. He went 8-for-14 for 68 yards and a touchdown when he replaced Burrow in Baltimore.
That performance garnered a lot of respect from his coach.
“I’ve certainly had a lot of confidence in Jake (because) you just watch him prepare to be the starter all week,” Taylor said.
“The calmness, the confidence in
him. Just to go on road on a Thursday night, short week, tough environment and to have the poise that he had shows that we can have that confidence in him, because he was ready for that moment.”