• In September, I never thought we’d be 10 weeks deep, and two of the AFC’s three superpowers would be on the outside of the conference’s playoff picture looking in.
But here we are. We diagnosed the Bills’ ills earlier this week. Today, we cover the Bengals.
And we cover the Bengals because like injuries have felled Buffalo (particularly on defense) this fall, a very, very big one nipped Cincinnati on Thursday night. For the second time this year, Joe Burrow is injured. For the second time, the injury serves as an existential threat to their season. This time around, though, he can’t play through.
The basics here, I’m sure, you know—cameras caught Burrow’s throwing hand in a wrap before the Bengals’ game in Baltimore, and then in the second quarter, he fell on the hand and was subsequently writhing in pain after a throw, showing frustration thereafter, then exiting for the locker room before the half. He was ruled out officially by the team early in the second half, with a wrist injury showing in a hand that had become badly swollen.
Imaging taken Friday showed he’d need season-ending wrist surgery. Bengals coach Zac Taylor said that Burrow wearing the wrap Thursday before the game was unrelated to the injury he suffered after being taken to the ground by Jadeveon Clowney.
So where does this leave the Bengals? First and foremost, it changes the AFC race and Cincinnati’s place in it. That much is obvious. But it also leaves the franchise at a bit of a crossroads, with Burrow and Logan Wilson now on second contracts, and Ja’Marr Chase to take care of in the near future. Tee Higgins is a free agent, as is D.J. Reader, and those two have been pretty integral to this iteration of the Bengals. Tyler Boyd, Chidobe Awuzie and Jonah Williams are up, too. There is a host of tough decisions to make.
With the window to build with its quarterback on a rookie contract now closed, Cincinnati’s probably going to have to transition as the Chiefs did two offseasons ago, when Kansas City offloaded Tyreek Hill and got younger across the board ahead of Patrick Mahomes’s fifth NFL season (2024 is Year 5 for Burrow).
Which is to say it can be done. But it’s more difficult, and it means you have to hit on draft picks like the Chiefs did with L’Jarius Sneed, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, George Karlaftis, Nick Bolton, Trent McDuffie and a bunch of others, so you’re stocked with cost-controlled talent that allows for the bigger contracts at the top of your ledger. The Bengals, of course, have already shown they can do it because hitting on picks is a big part of how their current group was built. That said, turning the trick again won’t be easy.
And as for now? Well, we’ll see what Jake Browning can do. But the Bengals certainly would be a decent bet to have some higher picks than expected to work with in April.
