NFL Doctor Shares Grim Update on Bengals Star Joe Burrow's Toe Injury

CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is expected to miss at least three months after suffering a turf toe injury during Sunday's 31-27 win over the Jaguars.

The star quarterback needs surgery, which is bad news for him and the Bengals.

Dr. David Chao believes Burrow will likely miss the rest of the season.

"The early estimates of three months are optimistic. The only reason he might be able to return is because it's his front foot," Chao said in a video breakdown on X. "But then again, you do more than throw as a quarterback. Back foot, right foot would be for sure season ending. This is still likely season ending because you have to drop back and be mobile, etc. I had a text conversation with my friend. He texted me last night, Philip Rivers, who played through a painful turf toe in 2020 without surgery, but it was his right foot and we were chatting on it. Look, three months is a very, very, very optimistic timeline for recovery. It is the bunion joint. It's different than bunion surgery, but for those of you who know someone who've had bunion surgery, are they running around at three months? The answer is no. So we can keep hope alive because it's his front foot, but this is essentially season ending."

Burrow suffered the injury to his left foot in the second quarter of Sunday's game. He was being sacked by Arik Armstead when he suffered the injury.

“When he plants the left foot to escape, hyper dorsiflexes, injures the toe, turf toe, tears ligaments, the plantar plate, and you can see the big toe quickly give way and spring back," Chao noted. "And that, unfortunately, was the moment of the turf toe. We couldn't tell what grade, we knew it was significant, at least grade two, now reports of grade three. What does that mean? In orthopedics, mild, moderate, severe. Grade one, mild, grade two, moderate, grade three, severe. Severe means the tendon and the ligaments are torn and retracted, likely the sesamoid bones retracted. That means surgery. Surgery is not good news. The good news is we do anticipate a 100% and full recovery for Joe Burrow. It's a question of when."

The Bengals are 2-0 for the first time in the Zac Taylor era. No one in the building is going to dismiss Burrow's chances of returning this season, but they need to win games to give him a shot at coming back at any point.

Check out Chao's entire video breakdown below:

The reported three-month return timeline for Joe Burrow is very optimistic. While there’s some hope since the turf toe is on his front foot, this type of injury is effectively season-ending. pic.twitter.com/akIDn2zCzo
— David J. Chao - ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) September 15, 2025

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