Joe Burrow Is Under Heavy Pressure In 2026

Dating back to college days, Burrow was always a winner. In his final season as an LSU Tiger, he threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns on 76.3% completion. He added five touchdowns on the ground as well. That earned him the honors of winning the Heisman Trophy.

The team, as a whole, went 15-0 overall and went 9-0 against the rest of the SEC. LSU became the second-ever undefeated team in the College Playoff Football era. They knocked off Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers. Both teams were 14-0 heading into the 2020 College Football National Championship.

Later that year, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Burrow with the first overall pick. A team in desperate need of a signal caller. It wasn’t going to be easy for the former LSU Tiger, as Cincinnati had major roster issues, including the offensive line.

It was a rough rookie year for Burrow. He played 10 games and threw for 13 touchdowns to just five interceptions on 65.3%. The potential was there, but his season was cut short due to an ACL injury. There was still optimism despite the freak accident.

In the next NFL draft, the Bengals drafted Burrow’s former LSU teammate Jamar Chase. In hopes of the duo picking up right where they left off, Bengals fans were excited. They were proved right.

In the 2021 NFL season, Burrow threw for 34 touchdowns and 4,611 passing yards with a 108.3 rating. 13 of those touchdowns went to Chase, who had 1412 yards on top of that. The Bengals won the division at 10-7 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

The young gunslinger led the franchise to its first playoff win since 1990. The success didn’t stop there. Burrow and company won two rounds after that and found themselves in Super Bowl 56 against the Los Angeles Rams in their building. One of the wins included beating the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead while trailing 21-3.

Cincinnati lost a hard-fought game 23-20. Burrow played well enough to win, throwing for 263 yards and a touchdown on 66 percent completion, but came up short. Despite the loss, it was only year two, and the future looked bright.

After a slow start the year after, the team went 12-4 and won their last eight games, and Burrow had another masterful season. Cincinnati won the first two rounds in the playoffs, beating the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills. They were then set to face the Chiefs in the AFC Championship for the second year in a row.

This time, unfortunately, Kansas City came away with the victory 23-20. Despite that, Bengals fans could get used to playing meaningful football in late January year after year. Everything then went downhill.

The NFL Is Cruel

This league teaches you real fast not to get too comfortable. That is exactly what happened to Burrow in the seasons since. In 2023, he had a calf strain in training camp.

That led to a slow start for Cincinnati as they started 0-2. Things seemed fine after they won four of five to go to 4-3. A few weeks later, though, Burrow suffered a wrist ligament tear in week 11 and was done for the season. The team went 9-8 and missed the postseason.

2024 was a different story for Burrow individually. It may have been his best season ever as a pro. He threw for 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns with just nine interceptions on a 108.5 rating. The team, though finished, was 9-8 because the defense was historically bad.

The unit was bottom third of the league in points allowed per game and yards. The Bengals were 4-4 in games where the team scored above 30, which is nuts. The team started 4-8 in the year and caught fire in the end to finish 9-8, but missed the postseason again.

The 2025 season was just a straight disaster for them. In Week Two, Burrow was taken out of the game due to turf toe. Cincy was 2-0 at the time, so the hope was to stabilize in his absence. Instead, the games just showed how good he was and how badly the team around him was constructed.

The Bengals went from 2-0 to 3-8. Burrow did come back ahead of schedule on Thanksgiving and played solidly. He had some great games and some rough games. They finished 6-11 and missed the playoffs for the third straight year.

End Of Joe Burrow Rant

There are two major issues. Burrow is unable to stay healthy for large stretches of time, and having a bad offensive line is not helping his case.

The Bengals as a whole don’t know what they are doing. The defense is atrocious, but they continue to spend loads of money on the offense.

What went from a contender just a few years back to a mess is incredible and painful to see. It shows how tough the NFL is, and nothing is ever guaranteed.

How will the team look in 2026?