Bengals Share More Details About Plan for Joe Burrow's Return After Loss to Steelers

CINCINNATI — Bengals head coach Zac Taylor shared the latest on Joe Burrow's recovery on Monday.

Burrow, 28, returned to practice last week after undergoing toe surgery in September. The Bengals have until Dec. 1 to activate him from injured reserve and put him on the 53-man roster.

"He did 7-on-7 last week, came out of the week feeling good, and so then this week, the plan will be, let's get to Wednesday and see if we can work in some 11-on-11 and go from there," Taylor said on Monday. "So I think before we ever do that, there's no reason to have a discussion on what the timeline is beyond that, because there's just steps we've got to follow. Seven-on-7, great, did individual, and now we continue with the rehab phase next week, and that's 11-on-11, that's getting bodies around him, seeing how he feels, seeing how he moves. And so until we've done any of that, there's no reason for me to speculate on where it's going to be."

The problem is they're 3-7 on the season, including 1-7 without Burrow. They host the 9-2 New England Patriots on Sunday at Paycor Stadium. New England has won 8-straight games and are 5-0 on the road.

Do they still plan to put their star quarterback on the field if there isn't a realistic path to the playoffs?

"I think right now, he's of the mindset that he wants to play football for us," Taylor said. "We'll just continue to get through his rehab progression and see where that ends up before we make any decision on how we want to proceed."

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Burrow was in the Bengals' locker room on Monday and has been on the sideline for home games over the past month. He didn't travel with the team to Pittsburgh.

Clearly Burrow plans on suiting up again this season. He's worked hard behind the scenes to put himself in this position. Unfortunately for him, Taylor and the rest of the team hasn't held up their end of the bargain.

Their 1-7 record without Burrow is tied with the Titans, Cardinals and Raiders (1-7) for the worst record in the NFL since Week 3. The Bengals are in danger of missing the playoffs for the third-straight season.

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