Without two stars in Chase and Mixon, Burrow had to get the best out of what the Bengals still had against a Steelers defense that knew the Bengals wanted to throw the ball. Burrow had to work around one of the toughest defensive lines in the NFL. He was playing on a brutally cold, windy day on a torn-up grass field where it was tough to find his footing.
Burrow delivered under pressure. Again.
“We got Joe Burrow on our team,” Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd said. “As long as Joe coordinates the offense and puts us in great situations, that’s the outcome you’re going to get every game.”
Without that drive, the Bengals would have fallen back to .500 on the season. They wouldn’t have been able to rationalize their season by saying “this is where we were last year.” They would have become 0-4 in the division, and their division title chances would have become extremely slim.
Burrow knew all of that as he took the field in the shadows of his goal post. Then, he delivered the type of drive that only a handful of NFL quarterbacks can make.
“It’s still shocking how smart he is and how he makes checks and audibles,” Higgins said. “Hats off to him for being the quarterback he is… Even the looks he wasn’t expecting, he was prepared. He audibled as much as he needed to, and it was the right audible.”
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