Bengals O-Linemen Lament 'Sickening' Feeling of Seeing QB Joe Burrow Go Down Despite Faith in Backup Jake Browning

CINCINNATI – The music was thumping. So was Bengals head coach Zac Taylor’s fist on the dais. Smiles beamed. Breaths exhaled.

It was everything you’d expect to see and hear in a winning locker room, especially once in which the team took its only lead of the game with just 19 seconds remaining.

But along one sliver of the locker room, it was more pall than party following the Bengals’ 31-27 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars to go 2-0 for the first time since 2018.

Sitting just a few feet away from where quarterback Joe Burrow hobbled to a stool with the aid of a crutch and walking boot after being knocked out of the game -- and likely the next three months -- with a toe injury, the Cincinnati offensive linemen sounded as though the game, and possibly more, was lost.

“It’s a little sickening,” left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said.

“Worst possible outcome,” center Ted Karras added.

No one was offering any details about the extent of Burrow’s injury or the estimated timeline for the next time he, and not backup Jake Browning, will be directing the offense.

But they didn’t need to.

Their hushed volume and choice of words said plenty.

3 months from today would be Dec. 14, which is the date of the Week 15 home game against the Ravens.

There are 11 games between now and then.
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) September 15, 2025

It wasn’t just losing Burrow, it was that it happened on yet another hit on a day when the Bengals struggled to contain Jacksonville’s pass rush.

Burrow dropped back 15 times Sunday and took hits on 33 percent of them, including a pair of sacks, the second of which by Arik Armstead left Burrow unable to walk to the sideline without the help of a trainer.

And Burrow’s walk from the sideline to the locker room looked even more painful, as it took a pair of trainers to help him traverse the short span.

“I wish I was more excited (about the win), but that cast a touch of gray on the day,” Karras said. “They were throwing a ton of stuff at us. I thought the first half was horrible. We just weren’t winning enough one on ones.”

The disappointment in the start devolved into devastation when Burrow went down.

“He's our engine,” Brown said. “It's just who we are and what we represent. The most important guy in the building. Man, it's always heartbreaking when he doesn't finish a game.”

Heartbreaking for the offensive line. Heart pumping for Browning.

Browning’s first career victory as a starting quarterback came in December 2023 against the Jaguars, who were 8-3 and 10-point favorites, two weeks after Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury.

Browning led a game-winning drive in overtime in that Monday night game.

Sunday afternoon, he made sure the game never got to overtime, directing a 15-play, 92-yard drive that he finished himself with a 1-yard leap over the goal line.

“I convince myself every Saturday that this will happen,” Browning said. “When it does, it surprises everyone else. Not me. That’s my job as a backup quarterback, to be ready for that.”

In the Monday night upset of Jacksonville in 2023, Browning was nearly flawless, completing 32 of 37 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown.

Sunday there were flaws.

Browning threw three interceptions, a fact he mentioned five times in his postgame news conference.

But he also completed 21 of his other 29 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns, including a blitz-beating strike to Tee Higgins for a game-tying 42-yard score late in the third quarter.

And on the game-winning drive, Browning was 9 of 15 for 65 yards, including a fourth-and-3 conversion to running back Chase Brown and a fourth-and-5 conversion thanks to a defensive pass interference penalty on Jacksonville rookie cornerback Travis Hunter.

Browning’s approach on the game-winning drive?

“Be delusional,” he said.

“I had thrown three picks, and somehow we had a chance to win the game,” he said. “I can’t be afraid of the fourth in that situation. The defense did a good job forcing a turnover on downs, so I had to be delusional and aggressive, because the moment called for it.”

The morose vibe linking the offensive linemen had more to do with knowing Burrow was hurt and may miss time and nothing to do with any doubt Browning could accomplish exactly what he did, a third game-winning drive in just his 13th career game.

“Any time he comes in the game, while it’s a situation we don’t necessarily want, but when he comes in, he wins games,” Karras said. “No fear. No panic. Got it done. That’s my guy.”

Karras called Browning one of his best friends. Browning has lived at Karras’ house every training camp since Karras arrived.

And the confidence and belief in Browning extends beyond the roster after watching him lead the Bengals to a 4-3 record and lead the NFL in completion percentage after Burrow went down in 2023.

“It’s never been too big for him,” Taylor said. “He's always known that he's ready. He just wanted an opportunity. That's all he wants. And I think he comes in the building every day knowing something like this can happen today.

“His career — I don't want to get this extreme — but it could end if he’s not prepared,” Taylor added. “If you walk out there and you have a really bad performance and everybody sees that tape and they say, ‘Okay, that's enough of that.’ I think as a backup quarterback, he lives that life. He knows he has to be prepared. It could be at any moment.”

It’s one thing to come in and save the day.

It’s something completely different to have to save the season.

And even though the extent of Burrow’s injury isn’t known, it’s not hyperbole to say that’s what could be asked of Browning.

“I’m sure people feel that I would — and this is weird — but that, “Hey, this guy could play at a lot of other places,’ but I’m behind Joe,” Browning said. “(That’s) weird to say after throwing three picks, but I think it’s some of that. Obviously, no one’s happy about what happened to Joe.

“It gives me a chance.”

And he gives the Bengals a chance.

And the irony is that his two most notable games in that 2023 were win the win at Jacksonville and the come-from-behind overtime triumph of Minnesota when he famously yelled “You never should’ve f—king cut me” in reference to the Vikings, who let him go in 2021, leading him to Cincinnati.

Browning’s first chance to start in 2025, barring a miracle recovery from Burrow, will be against the Vikings next week.

Asked if he was aware of that, Browning wasn’t ready to dive into that narrative.

“One day at a time,” he said.

The Bengals will be going to Minnesota 2-0.

Browning might not give them as good of a chance as Burrow to improve to 3-0.

But he gives the team hope.

“We’ve been here before with Jake,” said Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who caught 10 passes for 128 yards from Browning on Sunday and six passes for 63 yards in six quarters with Burrow this year.

“We’ve got to let him be himself,” Chase said of Browning. “We’ve all got to push him to be better, push us to be better and just execute.”