Joe Burrow gets brutally honest after Bengals' disappointing 2024 season
Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow had one of the weirdest seasons in NFL history last year. While he had one of the best individual QB seasons in recent memory, leading the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns and finishing fourth in MVP voting, his team didn't qualify for the postseason, finishing third in the AFC North and only one game above .500.
Burrow finished the 2024 campaign with 4,918 passing yards, 45 total touchdowns and only nine interceptions last year but made clear that he needed to play better last year.
Bengals senior writer Geoff Hobson highlighted some of Burrow's quotes in an article released on May 31:
"If I had played even better, we wouldn't have been in that spot that we were in. ... I just focus on getting better myself, and I feel like everyone in the locker room feels the same way. If I go out there and play better than I did last year, then it doesn't matter what goes on anywhere else."
Burrow's comments are notable and show how the star QB isn't satisfied with any individual success if team success does not come along with it.
Can Cincinnati return to the playoffs next year?
Although the defensive unit wasn't good in 2024 and will need to drastically improve next year, the offensive unit is arguably the best in the NFL. With two elite WR's in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, as well as one of the best QB's in football in Burrow, Cincinnati should be challenging for the playoffs and the Super Bowl every year with that core group of players.
We used Sportskeeda's Playoff Predictor Tool to see how the Bengals would perform in 2025. In the simulation, the Bengals had a much better season than last year, finishing with an impressive record of 13-4.
That record was good enough for Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals to win the AFC North Division and qualify for the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the AFC.
