Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow didn’t hold back in his postgame presser after the Week 13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Asked about how the Bengals need to change things up in AFC North play after another divisional loss, Burrow said the following: “We need to change a lot of things this year. We haven’t been good enough to win games.”
More of a general answer, but it was the beginning of a trend during the presser. The Bengals are 11-23 under Zac Taylor in the division, so it certainly applies.
But it didn’t stop there.
When asked about his perspective on the rest of the season, Burrow sent a message to the locker room, too: “We’ll learn a lot about who we have in the locker room, the guys we can count on going forward and guys that we can’t. I think the next five weeks are gonna say a lot about who we can count on and who we can’t.”
That’s a massive statement, and one can just feel the weight behind it in how it relates to not just this season but into 2025 and beyond.
And what about Burrow being willing to throw his opinion in and ask for changes? Burrow said he tries to “give your opinion in ways that you feel comes over the best” and that those players who tough it out “will be remembered by how we handled this.”
None of this should be taken as Burrow giving up on this season, of course. But there’s a vibe of evaluation for 2025 already happening. And given the disparity between his MVP-level play and the offense compared to the struggling defense, it only makes sense.
From here on out, massive change is inevitable. Who might stick around and why hinges on how the next month unfolds around Burrow and the cornerstones of the franchise.
