'It Doesn't Feel That Way This Year' - Joe Burrow on Key Factor Bengals May Finally Have Entering 2026 Season

Joe Burrow is feeling a similar "inevitable" championship vibe with this Bengals team as he did before winning the National Championship at LSU.

He expanded on a thought that's spread like wildfire all summer long in an extended interview with Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer.

"I just knew how things felt around the building," Burrow said during the training camp interview. "I knew how practices were going. I knew that offense fit my skill set more so than any one I had been in. It just made sense to me. As I said, there was just a feeling around the building that it was inevitable.”

"It Doesn't Feel That Way This Year"

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws in the second quarter during Super Bowl 56 against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Nfl Super Bowl 56 Los Angeles Rams Vs Cincinnati Bengals Feb 13 2022 1405 | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

All the upgrades have Burrow's eye set on making the Super Bowl this season and playing well enough to win it.

“The vibe of the defense is really good right now,” he said to Breer. “Our defensive line is so deep this year. The depth of that unit was a weak point last year, [but] now we have nine or 10 guys that we feel good about putting out there in five-down sets. Obviously, Dexter [Lawrence II] plays a big role in that. Jonathan Allen plays a big role in that. And those guys have been vocal leaders for us to start this out, which is something that we needed. We know what we have on offense, so we can take care of and experiment with things right now that we want to be better at, but we always know we have something in the back pocket that we can pull out and go to, that we’ve done for years at this point. And now we have more flexibility in our style of play on offense to win a game.

“The last couple of years, it felt like every possession was do or die—you’ve got to go make a play on third down. Otherwise you’re going to fall behind. It doesn’t really feel that way this year. I think we can commit to the run; we can commit to play-action. As I said, we’ll drop back and throw it 60 times if we have to, but I don’t think that’s a recipe for success week in and week out. That’s something I have experience doing. I think in 2020 and 2021, we were a run-the-ball, play-action team, and so I’ve done that. I’ve done the go-play-Superman when you have to. I’ve got a lot of different experiences that I can pull from, too. As you get older, that will help you win ballgames.”

Burrow has stayed healthy all offseason, is more mature and adept at managing risks entering Year 7 in the NFL, and knows what it takes to make the Super Bowl.

Playing well enough when/if the team gets there is his next big step.

He's posted big regular season numbers, but has just a 93.8 passer rating in the playoffs along with a mediocre 5.8 adjusted net yards per attempt figure.

The veteran is the first to tell people he didn't play well enough in the Super Bowl against Los Angeles a few years ago. Burrow had one touchdown pass in that loss, to go with 263 yards through the air.

“I mean, I played fine,” he said to Breer. “Not good enough to win a Super Bowl against Matt Stafford. And as far as my game now, it’s so much more evolved, and I’m such a better player than I was at the time, and I understand what it takes to do that. The better and better I get, the more I realize I wasn’t good enough.”

The Rams are the betting favorite to win the title this year (consensus +500 odds), but Yahoo! Sports' Ben Fawkes noted a favorite this short is 0-20 at trying to lift the Lombardi in the past 30 years.

It would be fitting if Cincinnati makes it 0-21 with Burrow smiling on the other side.

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