The Cincinnati Bengals went into the 2023 season with legitimate Super Bowl hopes. They had added offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. who had just won a world championship with the Kansas City Chiefs, and it was projected that he would give star quarterback Joe Burrow added protection.
But the injury gods must’ve sprinkled some voodoo evil onto Burrow. He suffered a strained calf early in training camp that hampered him in the beginning stages of the regular season, and in Week 11, he sustained a wrist injury that prematurely ended his season.
The signal-caller admitted that he took up a common hobby — playing the piano — this offseason, but he did so for a seemingly odd reason — to help rehab his wrist injury.
“I’m learning the piano right now, hopefully I can get pretty good at that by next offseason,” Burrow said in an interview with Complex. “I guess it’ll be pretty tough during the season, but it’s helped my rehab too for my wrist, so that’s something I want to get good at.”
Burrow tore the Scapholunate ligament in his right wrist against the Baltimore Ravens in a Thursday night matchup in Week 11. He underwent surgery to repair the tear, but he did participate in offseason workouts recently.
Just before that Week 11 matchup, a photo went viral on X (formerly Twitter) of Burrow wearing what appeared to be a wrap on the right wrist he injured in that game.
It aroused the suspicion of the NFL, which led to an investigation into whether the Bengals had complied with league rules regarding reporting injuries. The team was later cleared of any such violations.
Can the Bengals make another run at a Super Bowl?
If Cincinnati stays healthy this time around — and let’s face it, Burrow has dealt with other major injuries in the past — it should be a major contender for a spot in Super Bowl LIX.
The Chiefs are two-time defending Super Bowl champs, but there is a reason no team has won three Super Bowl titles in a row. The Bengals are the only AFC team to defeat Kansas City in the playoffs over the last five years, doing so in the 2021 AFC Championship Game game when they outlasted Patrick Mahomes and crew in overtime.
On the other hand, the AFC North looks to be the toughest division in football, and the conference in general is stacked with talent. Six of the Bengals’ 17 regular season games will be against division opponents, and three of those contests will take place in December and January.
They will get their first crack at the Chiefs in Week 2 when they visit Mahomes’ crew at Arrowhead Stadium. It could quite possibly be a preview of another epic AFC Championship Game matchup this winter that would pit Joe Burrow against Mahomes.
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