Bengals QB Joe Burrow 'trying to manifest' a Super Bowl run

Joe Burrow is done treating a Cincinnati Bengals championship as something that can always wait another season.

Following Thursday’s joint practice, the Bengals quarterback spoke openly about the urgency surrounding the team. Burrow has discussed Cincinnati’s championship expectations throughout the offseason, but his latest comments carried considerably more weight.

“I’m trying to put it out into the world,” Burrow said. “I’m trying to manifest it. I’m trying to show our guys the urgency that I have and that I want us to have as an organization to go and make it happen.”

Joe Burrow declares "this is the year" for Cincinnati

The Bengals have spent the past several seasons trying to recreate the postseason run that carried them to Super Bowl LVI. Recent campaigns have instead been defined by injuries, defensive shortcomings and slow starts that left Cincinnati chasing the rest of the AFC.

Burrow has no interest in hearing another explanation for why the Bengals should be better later.

“You can keep pushing it down the road, or you can talk about it now and say, ‘This is the year,’” Burrow said. “I’m tired of saying, ‘Next year, next year, next year.’ This is it.”

When a reporter asked whether Burrow considered the upcoming season a now-or-never proposition, he did not run from the description.

“That’s how I’m treating it, for sure,” Burrow said. “That’s how I’m treating it.”

It was an unusually direct acknowledgment of the pressure facing Cincinnati. Burrow is not merely hoping his teammates recognize the opportunity. He is actively trying to raise the temperature inside the building.

“Your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road,” Burrow said. “I’m trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and be great every day and try to make it happen.”