Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor announced on November 17 that franchise QB Joe Burrow was out for the season after suffering a sprained wrist against the Baltimore Ravens in their Week 11 TNF matchup. Losing someone as crucial to them as Burrow is a huge setback for the team.
With the Bengals currently holding a 5-5 record, this news could be the nail in the coffin in terms of their 2023 playoff hopes, which already looked dire before Burrow’s latest injury. Here is why Burrow’s season-ending wrist ligament tear means 2023 is a lost season for the Bengals.
Even with Burrow, the Bengals started the season slowly with a 1-3 start after crucial losses to two division rivals in the Ravens and Cleveland Browns, as well as an ugly 27-3 defeat at the hands of the Tennessee Titans, who have only won one game since. However, they got their groove back with four straight wins before their last two games, where they lost to the Houston Texans and once again to the Ravens to make it a 0-3 division record, which is very hard to overcome.
The division record is one of the top tiebreakers in the NFL, so losing your first three is never a good sign. The Bengals went into the 2023 season with a lot of expectations and were seen by many as one of the top Super Bowl favorites. Concerns started before the season when Burrow went down with a calf injury in practice.
A slow start has become a recent trend, with a combined 6-5-1 record across the first four games of their 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons. However, there was a sense of “don’t panic” when the Bengals started 1-3 this year, as they started 0-2 in 2022 and still made the AFC Championship game.
With Burrow now injured, it’s hard to see backup Jake Browning having a Nick Foles type of season, even with elite talent at the skill positions like Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins, and Joe Mixon.
