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USATSI

CINCINNATI -- If you've ever been to an awkward birthday party, then you definitely have a slight idea of how it felt during Joe Burrow's weekly press conference this week. The Bengals franchise quarterback turned 29 on Wednesday, but he was in no mood to celebrate. Some people love when their birthday comes around, but for others, it's just a 24-hour existential crisis where nothing could possibly go right and that seemed to be where Burrow was. 

Four years ago at this time, Burrow had just turned 25 and he was two months away from playing in the Super Bowl. Since then, not much has gone right. The Bengals did make a return trip to the AFC title game in 2022, but that was followed by a 2023 season where he missed the final seven games of the year due to injury after tearing a ligament in his right wrist. 

Half of Burrow's career has been spent rehabbing from some sort of injury. There was an ACL tear in 2020 followed by the wrist in 2023 followed by the toe injury this year that knocked him out for nine games. And those are just the major ones, he's also dealt with several other injuries like a calf strain in July of 2023. 

Burrow may not have been directly complaining about the team with his recent comments, but after sitting in on almost every press conference he's held since July, I can tell you this: He's methodical and he thinks long and hard about everything he says before he puts it out there. With Joe Burrow, there are no accidental messages. 

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Although he sounded down in the dumps on Wednesday, let's flash back to Sunday real quick. After throwing two back-breaking interceptions in a 39-34 loss to the Bills, no one would have been surprised if he had been upset or had a negative tone, but instead, Burrow almost sounded thankful that he was even able to be on the field for the Bills game. 

"I fought my butt off to get back to this spot and to be able to be out there with everybody for our organization and the city, so that's what I'm going to continue to do," Burrow said in his postgame interview. "I take it very seriously. I love what I do and I'm going to continue to do it." 

As he said, he fought to get back on the field for the organization and city. The organization. The city. That's telling. That sounds like a guy who wants to be in Cincinnati. That  And that last sentence from Burrow is the one you should pay attention to: Joe Burrow loves playing football, which is why it's almost impossible to see this ever turning into an Andrew Luck situation. That being said, it's fair to mention Luck's name, because Burrow has now missed 22 games due to injury in his career, which puts him just four behind Luck, who missed 26 total before his abrupt retirement in 2019. 

Even if a retirement is unlikely, the Bengals have already run one former No. 1 overall pick out of town -- Carson Palmer demanded a trade out of Cincinnati back in 2011 because he didn't think he could win a Super Bowl with Mike Brown owning the team -- and although Burrow doesn't seem to be there yet, the Bengals need be paying close attention when he sends out public messages like he did on Wednesday. 

Let's take a look at a few of Burrow's most notable comments along with the question that he got asked to elicit those comments. 

Q: Does coming back from a serious injury change your competitive fire at all? How does the toe injury maybe change the way you view the game?

BURROW: "It certainly doesn't change my desire to win. If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for? That's the mindset I'm trying to bring to the table."

The comeback from the injury has clearly been weighing on Burrow and whether all the rehab is worth it. 

"I think I've been through more than most, and it's certainly not easy on the brain or the body, so I'm just trying to have fun doing it again," Burrow said. 

Burrow wasn't supposed to come back until mid-December, but he ended up returning almost a month earlier than expected because he worked his tail off in rehab. However, his efforts have basically now gone to waste after just two games because the Bengals are essentially out of the playoff race following Sunday's loss to the Bills, so it's easy to see why some of the joy might have been sucked out of the game for him this week. 

Although he's lived in rehab for a good chunk of the past five years, Burrow certainly understands the risks of football as well as anyone. The QB was asked what it's like balancing his well-being versus wanting to come back as quickly as possible and he gave an insightful answer. 

"It's something you have to think about," Burrow said. "That's life as a professional athlete. It's no different in basketball, MMA or baseball. It's what we chose. We make a lot of sacrifices and your body is often one of them."

The most interesting part of Burrow's press conference came when he was asked, point blank, if he had something on his mind because he seemed frustrated. 

"There's a lot of things going on right now," the QB responded. 

Are those frustrations football-related or personal? 

"All the above."

That's a wide net to cast: Burrow could be frustrated with himself, with the team, with the organization. with the coaching, with his personal life, with his birthday cake, but the bottom line is that he's frustrated. 

Burrow is someone who hates losing and you can see it clearly on his face after any loss and if he doesn't think the Bengals are doing enough to fix the team's problems, you could easily see a situation where he starts to think that enough is enough, but let's be clear, he's not going anywhere any time soon. 

One reason it's hard to see the Burrow situation turning out like the Palmer situation is because the Bengals actually listen to Burrow. Last year, he went on a media tour at the Super Bowl and made it clear that he wanted to see Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson all get re-signed. And the Bengals did it. 

Burrow and Chase are signed through 2029 while Higgins is signed through 2028. The Bengals have a strong offensive nucleous and Burrow isn't going to be ditching that any time soon. 

So what are some of the other issues? 

The team has struggled on the offensive line in Burrow's tenure, but it's not for a lack of trying. The Bengals have signed several key free agents (like Orlando Brown and Ted Karras) and they've also used draft capital on the line, including two players who have each started at least 11 games this year (Amarius Mims and Dylan Fairchild). The line has been better, so it seems unlikely that Burrow is frustrated with them. As a matter of fact, he actually complimented the offensive line on Wednesday. Besides talking about Pokemon, the only other comment he seemed enthusiastic about was talking about the offensive line. 

If the Bengals are going to make any changes this offseason, it's going to have be on the defensive side of the ball. Burrow put up MVP numbers in 2024, but the Bengals didn't make the playoffs because they had a historically bad defense. In 2025, that defense somehow got worse. The unit has definitely improved over the past few weeks and although that sounds like good news, it could also be viewed as a bad thing, because it might convince key decision-makers in the organization that changes don't need to be made. 

The Bengals have Joe Burrow in his prime and they're about to miss the playoffs for the third straight season. Everyone in the front office needs to ask themselves why that's happening. It's frustrating for fans, it's frustrating for players and it's certainly frustrating for Burrow. It's the kind of frustration that should lead to changes this offseason and Burrow needs to let the team know what kind of changes he wants to see. This organization isn't going to win a Super Bowl anytime soon without Joe Burrow, so keeping him happy should be a top priority.

The Bengals have most of the pieces in place to be a Super Bowl contender, they just need to find the missing pieces to the Super Bowl puzzle and then give that puzzle to Burrow for his next birthday.