With the Bengals at 3-8 and any realistic chance of making the playoffs pretty much extinguished, there’s a drumbeat across those paid to opine on the NFL that Joe Burrow should cash out on a lost season and turn his focus to 2026.
After all, he’s the franchise quarterback. Concern over his injury history doesn’t come with excuses anymore, merely a realization that this will follow him for years until his health makes people forget.
Playing it safe makes sense. There’s understandable logic in it.
There’s also logic in understanding how Burrow got to this point as he prepares to return on Thanksgiving night, 74 days since rupturing a ligament in his toe.
He’s driven by proving people wrong, by an unparalleled drive, by elite competitiveness, by embracing the greatest challenges.
He’s driven by playing football.
“You look at it from my perspective, I’m a football player and if I get hurt, I’m going to go through the rehab process and then I’m going to let everyone know when I feel like I can go out there and play,” Burrow said Tuesday. “I don’t really know what else to say about that. I’m not ever going to go to somebody and say, ‘Yeah, I’m healthy, but I don’t think I should go out there and play.’ That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I’m not going to live my life and play this game scared of something happening.”
He said he understands why some think he should exercise more caution, but anybody who’s watched Burrow sees the fearlessness define him.
This is the same guy who stands in the face of a charging Myles Garrett, holding the ball for one extra beat, getting eviscerated, then, when asked about it, brags to make sure everyone saw how accurate the throw was. He stays in games, taking on zero blitzes regardless of whether his team is down by three touchdowns in Pittsburgh or up by four touchdowns at home.
He plays quarterback like a linebacker. His highlight reel is full of hits taken and discarded by the most ferocious pass rushers the game has to offer. His injury history essentially looks like the Operation board game at this point.
Some view it as a red flag. Burrow flies it as a point of pride.
“Yeah, something is going to happen, it’s football,” Burrow said. “Guys are going to get hurt, guys are going to get concussions, you’re going to break bones, tear ligaments, it’s a physical, intense game. That’s part of this. Yeah, I’ve had injuries; there’s not a lot I can do about that. I worked really hard to have that not happen, but what I can do is when it does happen, I can control how I’m attacking my rehab and attacking practice and doing everything in my power to get back as quickly as possible, and that’s what I did.”
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 25, 2025
Burrow has spent his life defying the odds. He didn’t play at Ohio State. His arm wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t built like other quarterbacks. The critics took their shots. He had to transfer; he had to find a way to win in Cincinnati. He had to play behind one of the worst offensive lines the Super Bowl has ever seen.
His personality and fearlessness powered him up those hills.
He’s won NFL Comeback Player of the Year twice and questioned his football mortality in the process. This one might be more impressive than the previous two.
Plus, he’s cleared by the doctors and coach Zac Taylor exercised caution by holding him out of Sunday to avoid two games in five days for a player who hasn’t played in two months. He’s healthy.
“I feel confident I can go out and do everything I need to do to win a game,” Burrow said.
So he’ll be damned if he doesn’t show that off to the entire country on one of the biggest stages the regular season has to offer.
“It’s a national stage to go out and prove yourself again after not playing for several weeks, and every opportunity that you get to go prove, all the hard work that you’ve put in the type of player you are, is something that I try to take advantage of,” Burrow said.
He grew up watching football on Thanksgiving and dreaming about playing in the game one day. He lobbied for it once he landed in Cincinnati. And that opportunity is here, all while accomplishing a goal of his rehab, and people want him to pass on it because the Bengals’ season went sideways without him?
Sure, there’s logic in sitting out. It just doesn’t compute with Burrow. He’s healthy. He earned that health. He’s a football player and his boys are about to play a division game on Thanksgiving in a place that’s proven to be his largest obstacle in the NFL.
Lace ‘em up.
“I’m a football player. I get paid a lot of money to go play a game with my friends,” he said. “We work really hard and it’s intense and there are jobs on the line, but end of the day, it’s a game.”
