Joe Burrow discusses Bengals future after Super Bowl loss
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow came so close to completing a turnaround that only Peyton Manning has successfully pulled off, helping the Bengals climb from last place and first-overall draft pick to Super Bowl champions in two seasons, but a late-game comeback from the Los Angeles Rams spoiled his hopes.
After a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, the Bengals led for the entire second half — that is, until Matthew Stafford found Cooper Kupp for a go-ahead touchdown with 1:25 left in the game. Given how close the Bengals were, and how young Cincinnati’s core is, Burrow believes that the franchise’s Super Bowl window is only just beginning.
“We’re a young team, so we’d like to think we’ll be back multiple times over the course of the next few years,” Burrow said. “We take this and let it fuel you for the rest of our careers.”
To Burrow’s credit, he certainly has a point. The Bengals are one of the youngest teams in the NFL, and some of their core players — namely, Burrow, who’s in his second year, and Ja’Marr Chase, who just finished up a stellar rookie season — have still yet to reach their primes. The Bengals entered the season with an average age of 25.6 years old, making Cincinnati the 10th-youngest team in the NFL heading into this season. And to take it a step further: unlike the Rams, who traded pick after pick to bring in the likes of Matthew Stafford and Von Miller, Cincinnati owns all of their future NFL Draft picks and can continue to build for the future.
The icing on the cake, and what should make Burrow excited for the Bengals’ future, is the team’s cap space. Not only could they draft to their needs and select offensive linemen, a key deficiency on the roster this season, but they are in a position to be big spenders this offseason. The Bengals have the most cap space among all 2021 NFL Playoff teams; they will roll over roughly $5.3 million in cap space to next season, which gives the franchise $58 million in cap space next year.
Joe Burrow remains in game following awful-looking injury
The Bengals allowed Joe Burrow to be sacked for the seventh time of the Super Bowl, as the quarterback suffered a painful looking injury as a result. After being brought down by Von Miller for a second time, Burrow immediately grabbed at his knee and appeared to be in tremendous pain on the field. After getting up, he attempted to jog off the field with a noticeable limp.
Despite the apparent severity of his injury, Burrow was seen on the sidelines waving away his team’s training staff and indicating that he was okay. Burrow would return on the Bengals’ next offensive possession, apparently determined to finish the game.
Both quarterbacks suffered injuries to their legs in the second half of a hotly contested Super Bowl matchup. The Los Angeles Rams had Matthew Stafford limp off the field prior to Burrow’s injury, having his ankle rolled over on a sack he took. Neither quarterback let their injury keep them out of the game, using the other team’s possession as a chance to get ready.
Burrow finished the game without appearing to have any major issues with his leg, but the constant pressure of the Rams’ defensive line proved too much in the game’s final moments. After Stafford completed a go-ahead touchdown with under two minutes in the game remaining, Burrow began to drive the Bengals down the field to potentially tie the game with a field goal.