The Cincinnati Bengals ended many years of futility in the early goings of the Joe Burrow era. By his second season, they came within two minutes of a Super Bowl trophy. A year later, they managed to make it back to the conference finals, narrowly losing to the eventual champion Chiefs.
But the Bengals didn’t even make it to the dance last year. Granted, it was largely because of Joe Burrow’s injury, which caused him to miss much of the season. Regardless, veteran OL Ted Karras says the failure did not go over well at all in the locker room.
“It was a hard pill to swallow last year”, he said, via Geoff Hobson writing for the Bengals website. “We were in the AFC championship game two years in a row, and then we didn’t make the playoffs. That hurts everybody. That affected a lot of people personally. It affected me personally”.
Of course, Karras comes from a different background. He won two Super Bowls with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots before signing with the Bengals in 2022. His championship background is one of the reasons the Bengals wanted him to help instill that winning culture in Cincinnati.
While he missed the Bengals’ trip to the Super Bowl, Karras was there in 2022 when they gave the Chiefs a run. But whoever wins the AFC North this year will have their hands full trying to get through Kansas City again.
Of course, Karras believes that the Bengals are equipped to do just that, having done so before. “You look at this team, from top to bottom, and guys are ready”, he said. “We’re a little dinged up in some spots, but overall, we’re working hard. I’m excited about this team”.
You can include Burrow in that “dinged up” group, I suppose, as he is still recovering from his injury. They are being careful with his recovery, not wanting to jeopardize their most important asset. One wonders if they weren’t as careful as they should have been last year, contributing to the injury’s severity.
Joe Burrow suffered a calf injury in training camp, which affected his play in the early portions of the season. After he rebounded and the Bengals began turning their season around, he injured his wrist. They ultimately finished the season 9-8, going 4-3 in his absence. They lost twice during that run without Burrow to the Steelers, however, who made the playoffs instead.
With Burrow back healthy, the Cincinnati Bengals are once again prime Super Bowl contenders. But they play in the toughest division in football, including some of the best defenses. And this year, most of the divisional games for everybody are late in the season. The AFC North teams could be knocking each other out of playoff contention in November and December.
