CINCINNATI — Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed the team planned on bringing Joe Burrow back when he's healthy enough to play, regardless of their record.
Cincinnati is 3-8 on the season and 1-8 this year without Burrow. They lost to the Patriots 26-20 on Sunday—their fourth-straight loss.
Even though they're out of the playoff mix, Taylor made it clear that Burrow is going to play again this season.
"Winning is important. We want to win, and Joe gives us a great chance to win," Taylor said. "Again, (Joe) Flacco has given us every opportunity. We haven’t lost games because of Joe Flacco. He’s gone out there and given us everything, and he understands that. That being said, we’ll also be excited to watch Joe Burrow. I’ve watched Joe Burrow now for six years and seen the things he can do as well. Again, he’s worked really hard to get himself back. He’s a football player. He wants to play football. We want to win football games, so that will lead into that decision."
The Bengals have six games remaining, including two against Baltimore and one against Buffalo over the next three weeks.
If Cincinnati had won one or two more games with Flacco it would be easy to see the Bengals' path to the playoffs. Instead, Burrow will likely have to win out for Cincinnati to have any chance at making the postseason.
Burrow made it clear when he returned to practice that he hoped to play on Thanksgiving in Baltimore.
"Very," he said with a smirk when asked about how meaningful it would be to play against the Ravens.
The game is a few days away, but all signs point to him returning to take on Lamar Jackson in Baltimore on Thursday night.
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