After three years of missing the playoffs, Joe Burrow has his sights set on the Bengals winning the Super Bowl in 2026. Having come up just short of one early in his career, he’s ready for his first professional ring. He and teammate Ja’Marr Chase earned one in college in 2019 with LSU, and he sees similar qualities in Cincinnati.
“I certainly feel this way about this team”, Burrow said, via the Bengals‘ website. “I think we have guys that have been there and done that and also guys who have had a lot of individual success and not necessarily the team success that we’re looking for”. He named recent pickup Dexter Lawrence, for whom they traded a first-round pick. “We have guys with so much talent, and I’m just excited to put it all together”.
Joe Burrow has been one of the few prospects in recent years deemed surefire picks. The Bengals just happened to suck well enough to be in position to draft him first overall in 2020. While they had very little success his rookie year—they did poorly enough to draft Ja’Marr Chase in 2021—things turned the corner immediately.
The following season, Burrow took the Bengals to the Super Bowl. And he gave them the lead with minutes to play, coming up just short. Only by virtue of a stellar effort from Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp did they fall short. Cincinnati returned to the conference finals a year later, but they haven’t even made the playoffs since.
A lot of that has had to do with Joe Burrow and his health. In two of the past three seasons, he has missed at least seven games, compromised by injury in others. Yet even with a fully healthy Burrow in 2024, they went 9-8 with no playoff appearance. The defense was just that bad, which is why the offensive players were so excited about Lawrence.
Earlier this year, Burrow said that this is the most talented Bengals roster he has been a part of. He understands the target that places on them, particularly from the media, and embraces it. “Put pressure on guys. I love it, I thrive in it. We’ll find out who else does”, he said.
Joe Burrow emphasized that he said similar things about LSU’s roster prior to the 2019 season, and they backed up that talk. The lasting image from that season was Burrow sitting in the locker room, soaked in champagne, smoking a cigar and celebrating a national title understanding that he was bound for the first-overall pick a few months later.
“I want everybody talking about what I’m saying in my press conferences. You go back and watch what I’ve said before the 2019 season at LSU, I feel very similarly about this team”, he said. “I wish we would ramp this right into training camp, so we can continue to improve because I feel like there’s so much greatness that we’re gonna be able to achieve this year”.
That’s a far cry from how Joe Burrow sounded at times last season. During the bleakest moments, he almost seemed as though he was contemplating his future in the NFL. But going into 2026, he’s as fired up as he’s ever been—should the AFC North be concerned? Perhaps only if the Bengals defense can hold up its end of the bargain for once.
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