How the Bengals’ pass defense issues against Joe Burrow caught up with them in the Super Bowl 56 loss to the Rams
Joe Burrow clutched his right knee after Von Miller’s dismissal with 11:44 left in Super Bowl 56, and in that moment, the future of the Bengals looked uncertain.
We’re not talking about the game either. Cincinnati is holding a four-point lead ahead of the Rams, a lead the Bengals will give up in heart fashion in a 23-20 loss like the Super Bowl 16 and Super Bowl 23 losses to the 49ers.
Burrow ended the game, but it was in Cincinnati to make sure that uncertainty didn’t recur with an exception that enhanced Burrow’s defense.
What else can you say after watching Burrow win a Super Bowl seven-bag record? That ties in with the record set by Pittsburgh and the “Iron Curtain” when they harassed Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach during their 21-17 victory in Super Bowl 10.
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If the Bengalis want the Burrow to have the same career on the Walk of Fame, then that matter needs to be A, B and C priorities this season. That pass protection is a fully documented failed going to Super Bowl 56. Burrow take nine sacks in the AFC division playoff against Tennessee, and the Bengal team won by a score of 19-16.
However, similar problems are the reason why the Bengali cannot get rid of the Rams. Burrow took just one bag in the first half, and the Bengals took a 17-13 lead in the first play of the second half when Burrow hit Tee Higgins for a 75-yard TD pass.
Then the Rams’ pass was over. Burrow took two sacks from Aaron Donald on his next drive, including one in the red zone that forced a score. Burrow was fired four times over the next three drives, including twice from Miller. That has prevented Cincinnati from building a TD advantage that could take the game away.
In the final set of the game, Donald pressured Burrow in the 4th and 1st rounds with a javelin throw. So begins the story and it comes with a damned statistic from ESPN’s Ed Werder.
THAN: Eli Apple was stoned by NFL players after losing Super Bowl 56
Are from @ESPNStatsInfo and @doug_clawson: #Bengals QB Joe Burrow has been fired 70 times this season (through 7 tonight), including the playoffs. FROM ELIAS: The most QBs fired in a Super Bowl season is 54 (Ben Roethlisberger 2008).
– Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) February 14, 2022
Knowing Burrow has been fired 70 times, it’s a miracle that the Bengali were able to pull through it to reach Super Bowl 56. Compare it to Miami’s Dan Marino, who took the Dolphins to Super Bowl 19 in the same year. 1984 with the then record of 48 TDs. Marino took only 13 bags in the regular season, but the 49ers fired him four times in a 38-16 game.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers received 55 covers (including playoffs) in his second season at the start before he led the Packers to a Super Bowl championship the following season when that number dropped to 39.
Marino never made it to the Super Bowl again. Rodgers is yet to return to the Packers, and he was dropped five times in the NFC split against the 49ers this season.
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If the Bengals and Burrow want to make a comeback, then the passability of the guard needs to change. It was a topic of conversation late last season when the Bengali passed Penei Sewell’s tackle to Ja’Marr Chase, Burrow’s former teammate at LSU. There’s no way to argue that Chase picked the wrong one as he had 81 catches from 1,455 yards and 13 TDs in one of the greatest rookie seasons since Randy Moss with Minnesota in 1998.
But Cincinnati could not make that argument again. It can come through free agent where Bengali have more $60 million in limited space, or the NFL Draft, where Cincinnati has drafted four offensive line-ups in the first round since 2009. But it has to be a response to what happened last month.
A franchised quarterback simply can’t get that many hits, no matter how much they escape. Staubach could not escape the Iron Curtain. Burrow simply couldn’t get away from the Rams’ hasty pass in the second half.
The fact that Burrow was mentioned with that legendary quarterback is testament to his potential at Cincinnati, a reputation that spans from his high school career in Athens, Ohio to the 2019 national championship season with LSU. Burrow has his first try on the Super Bowl stage, but the image of Burrow clutching his right knee was dangerous as he clutched his left knee during a game against Washington on November 20, 2022. .
That’s when he suffered ACL and MCL damage to his left knee. If the Bengals don’t do everything they can to keep Burrow upright on both knees in the future, the future is uncertain.
It would be an irresponsible disaster waiting to happen.
