Joe Burrow States 'Something's Got To Change' Following Bengals Latest Playoff Miss

CINCINNATI — The season finale is just days away for Joe Burrow and Cincinnati. His Bengals squad got eliminated from playoff contention the earliest it has in any season since his rookie campaign, as he awaits "changes" this offseason.

Nothing specific popped up, but something needs to be done differently.

"We want to be competing for championships every year," Burrow said. "We don't want to be in the spot that we're in now. So something's got to change, whether it's players that we have continuing to improve and get better at playing championship caliber football or bringing guys in that will, or whatever it may be, obviously something has to."

The Bengals' defense has been the big hamper overall across the past three months, ranking 31st in scoring after climbing up from being one of the worst scoring and efficiency defenses of all time.

Don't ask Burrow to fix what is still the lowliest yards per play unit in the NFL (6.3 yards per play allowed).

"I want to be a quarterback. I don't want to work in the front office. I don't want any scouting guys in the offseason," Burrow noted. "I want to do what I do, and I want to do it at a high level. And I have, and I'm going to continue to find more and more ways that I can help myself get better, help the team get better, and put ourselves in good positions."

Fair views from a player who continues to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He is the second-highest graded passer on Pro Football Focus this season (91.4 grade across seven games).

The most important winning factor is still more than available for Cincinnati to build around.

"I think my job is number one: to play as well as I can. Number two, continue to improve, and number three, be the conduit between the coaching staff, front office, and the locker room, relay feelings that players have, relay sentiments in the locker room, because coaches in front office are not down there every day, and they don't understand a lot of the things that go on in the locker room. And so I think as a quarterback, your job is to relay some of those things," Burrow said.

The veteran will relay passes on Sunday to close the 2025 campaign at 1 p.m. ET against Cleveland.

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