When the Cincinnati Bengals reached the Super Bowl in what was just the second season of Joe Burrow’s career, many assumed the team would be regularly competing for titles over the next several years. That hasn’t happened, and it sounds like Burrow is now feeling the urgency a bit.
After making the Super Bowl in the 2021 season and the AFC Championship Game following in the 2022 season, the Bengals have now missed the postseason entirely the past two seasons. Heading into this year, Burrow has a message: now or never.
‘Now or Never?’
During a press conference on Thursday, Burrow was asked whether or not he was treating the 2026 season as if it were “now or never” for the team. Burrow didn’t mince words.
“That’s how I’m treating it, for sure. That’s how I’m treating it,” Burrow said during his press conference.
“I’m trying to put it out into the world. I’m trying to manifest it,” Burrow continued. “I’m trying to show our guys the urgency that I have and that I want us to have as an organization to go and make it happen.
“You can keep pushing it down the road, or you can talk about it now and say, ‘This is the year.’ And I’m tired of saying, ‘Next year, next year, next year.’ This is it. Life is too short to keep pushing things down the road. I’m trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and be great every day and try to go make it happen.”
What Will It Take?
The reality is that the Bengals have tried and failed to compete for a Super Bowl. This time, Burrow thinks he knows that it takes for a team to get there.
“You’ve got to have a really close-knit team,” Burrow said. “You’ve got to have at team that trusts each other. You’ve got to have a team that wants to go to war for each other and fight for each other — wants to hang out off the field, wants to play games in the locker room, wants to sit with each other at lunch and have deep conversations. And you have to have great players and great coaches, obviously. But that’s not necessarily — a lot of teams have great players and great coaches, that’s not necessarily what does it.
“We’re working really hard for it,” Burrow added. “The urgency is very high in the locker room. You can feel it. It’s palpable. We have to be more consistent on offense. We have to — our standard is so high, but it’s so high because of what we’ve done and what we can do. So, I’m going to continue to push that and we’re going to keep getting better and see where we’re at Week 1. But I’m so excited for it.”
We’ll have to see whether or not Burrow and the Bengals can accomplish these goals in 2026.
About Kevin Harrish