Healthy Joe Burrow Leads Bengals Reset for 2025 NFL Season

The Cincinnati Bengals enter the 2025 season with more questions than in years past. Once pegged as perennial contenders, two straight seasons without a playoff appearance have shifted the narrative around Zac Taylor’s team. But with Joe Burrow healthy and a retooled approach to camp and preseason, the Bengals believe they’re primed to flip the script.

“I certainly think that the narrative surrounding our team has shifted,” Burrow said Wednesday. “I’m not sure I would say most to prove. I would say that we certainly are trying to go out and win as much as we can. We’re putting in a lot of work for it.”

Last season marked the first time Burrow played every game and Cincinnati still missed the playoffs, finishing 9-8 and falling short in Week 18. Career years from Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Trey Hendrickson weren’t enough to overcome a string of inconsistencies that kept the Bengals out of contention.

Fixing the Slow Starts

No issue has haunted Cincinnati under Taylor more than sluggish beginnings. Since his arrival in 2019, the Bengals are 1-11 in their first two games of a season — the worst record in the NFL over that span. The lone win came in 2021, the year Burrow led the team to the Super Bowl.

“We’ve certainly had some that are hard to believe,” Burrow admitted.

Determined to break the trend, the Bengals overhauled their preseason approach. For the first time since 2021, Taylor skipped joint practices and instead emphasized intrasquad preparation. Starters saw live action in the first two preseason games, a notable departure from past years.

“It’s what this team needed this year,” Taylor said. “Looking at how we just got everything installed, got everything repped … I think if we had elected to go compete against somebody else, I wouldn’t feel like we had it all in the way we wanted to do it. For this year, I think it was the right call.”

Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher echoed the sentiment, saying camp “felt very different this year … not the same.”

Burrow Fully Healthy — Finally

A cloud has hovered over Burrow each offseason, from ACL surgery as a rookie to calf and wrist injuries in later summers. This time, nothing. The sixth-year quarterback looked sharp throughout camp, with zip on his passes and improved mobility. He even added more running to his training regimen to keep defenses honest.

His career numbers in Week 1 remain poor, but his readiness has never been higher. Against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, he’ll try to rewrite both his and the team’s early-season narrative.

“Showing everyone the work you put in over the last eight months to make yourself better in front of the world, that’s what sports are,” Burrow said. “That’s why we love them. And I’m excited to put on a show.”

Position Battles and Depth Chart Notes

On the offensive line, Lucas Patrick secured the right guard spot, holding off late-arriving Dalton Risner and rookie Jalen Rivers. Patrick’s chemistry with the unit made him the clear choice despite past injury concerns. Risner, though, impressed enough to be a reliable next man up.

Defensively, coordinator Al Golden wants an eight-man rotation up front. But with Hendrickson’s late signing, BJ Hill’s missed time, Myles Murphy’s leg issue, and rookie Shemar Stewart’s holdout, the group is still finding its rhythm. Stewart, despite limited reps, flashed as one of camp’s most disruptive defenders and could see close to 50% of the snaps in Week 1.

Golden emphasized situational use for Hendrickson, saying his workload will be managed to maximize impact in critical downs.

A New Chance to Reset

The Bengals haven’t lived up to the standard they set in 2021 and 2022, when they reached consecutive AFC title games. But with a healthy Burrow, an urgent mindset, and a new preseason formula, they’re confident about the reset.

“What we expect from ourselves is to be the best and to be at the top at the end,” Taylor said. “There is no external anything anybody can say or think that’s different than the pressure we put on ourselves.”

On Sunday in Cleveland, they’ll begin proving whether that pressure turns into performance.