Bengals Joint Practice Observations: The Good, Bad and Fiery from Joe Burrow vs the Bears

There were drops, sacks, holding penalties, a false start, a burned timeout and an interception for the Cincinnati Bengals offense Thursday in the joint practice against the Chicago Bears.

But there also were multiple reminders why the team has everything it needs to go as far as it wants to go.

There was Joe Burrow trusting Tee Higgins to make physically demanding and difficult contested catches – and being rewarded over and over again.

Ja’Marr Chase was an uncoverable menace in the red zone.

Andrei Iosivas made a tough catch in traffic up the seam.

“We have to be more consistent on offense,” Burrow said. “Our standard is so high, but it's so high because of what we've done and what we can do. And so I'm going to push that, and we're going to keep getting better and see where we're at in Week 1.”

After watching the Cincinnati defense make multiple big plays to finish off the practice in a way it was unable to close games in 2025, Burrow was asked if the improved group is good enough to help the team win the Super Bowl.

“I certainly think so,” he said. “I think we have to step up and make something happen this year. We're working really hard for it. The urgency is very high in the locker room. You can feel it. It's palpable.”

Burrow completed his first four passes in the first team period, connecting with Higgins three times and Drew Sample once. But he also had Ja’Marr Chase open streaking across the field and put the ball behind him, resulting in it going off the receiver’s hands.

Burrow’s third pass to Higgins was an elite back-shoulder connection against Chicago cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.

“There was a lot of competitiveness,” Higgins said. “Oh my goodness, there was a lot. A lot of our guys were getting a lot of one-on-one chances today and just making plays.”

The Bears made their share as well, once of which set up one of the most interesting moments of the day.

On the fourth series by the starters, Burrow hit Higgins on back-to-back slants before trying to go deep down the middle. But Chicago safety Dillon Thieneman intercepted the ball off a deflection.

As Thieneman was returning the ball, a Bears defender got in Burrow’s face, prompting Burrow to go after him and shove him away. The Bengals offensive line converged to pull Burrow out of the scrum.

“I don’t care what we do. We just better f—kin’ protect Joe,” Chase said after practice when asked about the situation.

“I love to see that fire out of 9,” center Ted Karras said. “We peeled them off and got him out of there after that. It really didn't escalate into anything much. But good fire.”

When the teams went into the red zone, the Chicago defense was trying to put out fires all over the place.

Burrow went 4 for 5 on the first series, hitting Chase on back-to-back passes near the front pylon. After an incompletion where Andrei Iosvias was forcing out of the back of the end zone after leaving his feet, Burrow threw to a covered Higgins along the end line.

Higgins outfought the Chicago defender for the ball and a touchdown.

But he said he thought his back-shoulder catcher earlier in the practice was more difficult because he was facing bump coverage and getting jostled throughout the route.

Higgins said having a strong showing in the joint practice meant a lot to him.

"It was really important for me," he said. "Last camp practice, I had a few drops and wasn’t too happy about it. But I came out today with a fresh start and just wanted to go out there and make plays.”

The second red zone series ended with Burrow hitting Gesicki for a touchdown.

That set the stage for the two- and four-minute drills that ended practice.

The defense has looked ahead of the offense for much of camp, and that was the case again against the Bears.

Though there are three weeks left before the start of the regular season, Burrow hammered home the urgency he feels to build the Bengals into a title contender in his post-pratice news conference.

"I'm trying to put it out into the world. I'm trying to manifest it," Burrow said. "I'm trying to show our guys the urgency that I have and that I want us to have as an organization, to go and make it happen. You can keep pushing it down the road, or you can talk about it now and say this is the year.

"I'm tired of saying 'next year, next year, next year. This is it," he added. Your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road. I'm trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and be great every day and try to go make it happen."

As Karras put it, "He's been on our ass. In a good way."

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