CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals are being asked to salvage their season without their franchise savior.
Coach Zac Taylor confirmed that the wrist injury Joe Burrow suffered Thursday night in Baltimore was a season-ending ligament tear. The severity was determined on Friday during an MRI. The injury will likely require surgery.
“If (Burrow) was a normal person, you would be worried about that. He’s not,” Taylor said Friday. “He’s wired differently.”
GO DEEPER
As the Bengals wait for Joe Burrow’s wrist diagnosis, time is ticking away on their season
Burrow suffered the injury on the play before his final touchdown pass to Joe Mixon and felt the pop on the ensuing throw, a team source said.
The Bengals will move forward with backup Jake Browning at quarterback.
Burrow’s worst season as a professional will be marked by two injuries and two compression sleeves. On July 27, Burrow went to the second training camp of the season with a compression sleeve on his right calf. Two hours into that session, he went down with a strained calf. He aggravated the injury several times, including on the final play of a Week 2 loss to the Ravens. He wasn’t even close to being right until Week 5 in Arizona. His health sparked a four-game winning streak and a series of franchise quarterback appearances.
Then, on the bus and flight to Baltimore, Burrow showed up with a compression sleeve on his right wrist. Thursday night, after another touchdown pass against the Ravens, another injury. The NFL is investigating the Bengals for not listing Burrow on the injury report.
He finished the season 244 of 365 (66.8 percent) for 2,309 yards and 15 touchdowns against six interceptions. He posted a passer rating of 91.0, although all of his stats were affected by four games in which he was largely immobile due to the calf injury.
Burrow, who signed a $275 million contract with $219 million guaranteed on Thursday before the season opener, will now once again be the highest-paid cheerleader in the world, backing up Browning.
Browning, who attempted an NFL pass before Thursday, will be tasked with leading the Bengals’ season to the finish line with high expectations.
The Bengals are 5-5 overall and 0-3 in the division, putting them outside of the AFC playoffs. Their last seven games all come against teams that are currently .500 or better.
They will use the extra days to plan a new path for the future.
“One game at a time,” Taylor said Thursday. “It starts with Pittsburgh. We have a home game here, it’s a big game. That’s the only thing we can control at this point, so I know our guys will be excited.”
Taylor reiterated that he wasn’t discouraged about the rest of the season after Thursday night’s game, playing the optimism card he’s often prone to in difficult times.
“Zac and (offensive coordinator Brian) Callahan are going to have a great plan,” tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said after the game. “That’s what’s special about this organization, it’s never down. I have great confidence in our team and the players and staff we have. Jake will get the job done.”
Browning is supported by AJ McCarron, who knows these situations all too well. He took over a Bengals team that started 8-0 and won the division in 2015 after Andy Dalton broke his thumb in December.
It is well known that McCarron missed the Bengals’ victory in a playoff game with a touchdown pass to AJ Green.
In 2005, Carson Palmer, a division champion Bengals with Super Bowl aspirations, went down with a torn ACL on the first play of his first playoff game.
Now add Burrow’s wrist to the list of devastating quarterback injury gaffes.
Burrow was listed as a leading MVP candidate and the Bengals were a trendy pick for the Super Bowl during their four-game winning streak.
Instead, after two magical seasons that led Burrow to Super Bowl 56 and the AFC Championship Game, they fall victim to the brutal parity and randomness of the league’s injury cycle. And whatever they can muster to rally around Browning.
Burrow was recovering…until now
The Bengals quarterback certainly struggled with his lingering calf injury early in the season, and his metrics helped tell the story. Here’s a look at Burrow’s ranking on traditional and advanced metrics across TruMedia:
Weeks 1-5
- Expected points added per dropback: -0.26 (26th)
- Overall EPA: -31.8 (29th)
- Completion percentage: 62.4 (26th)
- Passer rating: 78.3 (27th)
During this time, Burrow delivered the two worst passer rating performances of his career. He posted a 52.2 rating in a Week 1 loss to the Cleveland Browns and a 59.8 rating in a Week 3 win against the Los Angeles Rams.
Then Burrows healed his calf and with it his game.
Weeks 6-11
- EPA per dropback: 0.10 (seventh)
- Overall EPA: 18.3 (sixth)
- Percentage of completion: 72.0 (third)
- Passer Rating: 105.9 (Third)
There really is no replacement for Burrow for the Bengals. —Larry Holder, senior NFL writer
Required reading
(Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images)