Joe Burrow turned 29 years old today, but to see him at the podium for his press conference, it would appear that the man has aged a hundred years this season. And it’s no secret as to the reasons why.
How many serious injuries can one generational quarterback overcome, just to see his defense fail time and again to seal the deal in games that should be comfortably in the bag?
Numbers like those would drain the life out of the even the most competitive and outgoing NFL players. For all of his superhuman abilities, Joe Burrow is still just a man, and life wears on us all as time goes by.
But this press conference was different in all of the wrong ways. We’ve seen Joe Burrow frustrated and we’ve seen him angry. Today he seemed…defeated, which is tough to watch given all that he has given this franchise and city. The quotes he uttered din’t paint a rosy picture of his current confidence level or where this team stands.
“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing this. I have been through a lot. If it’s not fun, then what am I doing it for? That is the mind set I am trying to bring to the table.”
“There are just a lot of things going on right now. A lot of things going on.”
Bengals fans are well aware of the negativity surrounding this team and its future. If you’re reading this there’s a good bet that you’ve wondered what this team would look like if Joe Burrow simply got fed up and walked away. Not that he’d ever actually do it, but the tone and tenor of today’s press conference put that picture in the front and center of my mind, at least.
And to be honest I hope that it did the same for the management and ownership of this team. We’ve all come to accept that the folks that run things sports-wise in Cincinnati have notoriously cared very little about the thoughts and opinions of local supporters (the question “Where you gonna go? springs to mind”).
But without question, the one person that Bengals ownership will actually listen to is Joseph Lee Burrow. He is the one who puts the asses in the seats and keeps the Brown family coffers reasonably full. If he is unhappy or even remotely close to walking away, they have little choice but to listen. So I hope their ears and eyes were wide open today because we all got a very candid look into the frustration flowing from the one person who most holds the future of this team in his hands.
Ignore that at your peril Cincinnati Bengals.
Ignore that at your peril, Cincinnati Bengals.
