Joe Burrow’s Sensational Return Against Lamar Jackson Has Fans Raving About Bengals’ Playoffs Chances

Joe Burrow threw 2 touchdowns on his return to first team football after missing 75 days of action.

Joe Burrow’s Sensational Return Against Lamar Jackson Has Fans Raving About Bengals’ Playoffs Chances

Joe Burrow (Image via IMAGO)

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When Joe Burrow takes the field, the Cincinnati Bengals look and perform like a completely different team. Before the big Thanksgiving showdown, the Bengals’ defense ranked last in nearly every category, and the offense had gone stale.

And yet, that same Bengals defense bamboozled the Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson. Defensive end Joseph Ossai had the first two-sack game of his career, while his partner in crime, Cedric Johnson, recorded his first two career fumble recoveries.

It will be criminal to leave out Evan McPherson, who converted a career-high six field goals. Not to mention, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had his fifth 100-yard game against the Ravens.

The Bengals yearned for such a dominant outing during Burrow’s rehab. And while recovering from the bad turf toe injury, the Bengals went 1-8.

He took the first half to shake off the rust. In the second half, Burrow threw two touchdown passes to Tanner Hudson and Andrei Iosivas. Burrow completed 52% of his passes for 261 yards and an 88.15 QBR. The Bengals won 32-14.

The team currently occupy the 12th seed in the AFC and has a 2% chance of qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

Joe Burrow reflected on the Bengals win over the Ravens

This win marked Burrow’s second victory over Jackson in Baltimore and first since 2021. According to StatMuse, Burrow holds a 4-6 record against the Ravens in 10 starts.

Joe Burrow's Sensational Return Against Lamar Jackson Has Fans Raving About Bengals' Playoffs Chances
Joe Burrow (Image via IMAGO)

It was a much needed break from losing and a great start to their season revival, or whatever there’s left of it.

There’s no better feeling than that… Putting in work for a long time and going out and it paying off. There’s no feeling like going out with a group of guys who work really hard to go try and win games and going out and putting on a good performance winning that game.

Joe Burrow said after the game (H/T: Bengals official transcript)

The Bengals’ upcoming schedule features a trip to Buffalo and a rematch with the Ravens. If they want to keep their January football hopes alive, they’ll need to win both of those matchups and the rest of their games.

Burrow won’t be breaking any passing records this year, but what he can do now is win games and pray for teams around them to drop a few so that they can sneak in through the wild card round.

The Bengals went to two straight playoffs in 2021 and 2022. Not only that, they reached the Super Bowl in 2021 by defeating Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. He missed a chunk of the 2023 season with a wrist injury before finishing with a 9-8 record in 2024.

Ja’Marr Chase, on the other hand, is on course to finish with 1300+ yards. With Burrow, he may just end the season on a high note and grab a few wins along the way.

After 11 games, Chase has accumulated 86 catches on 131 targets for 971 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Chase missed the Bengals’ last game. He was suspended by the NFL for spitting on Steelers DB Jalen Ramsey. Moreover, the NFL ordered him to pay monetary fine for unsportsmanlike conduct. Chase later apologized for behavior.

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