LOS ANGELES — Joe Burrow rode on the back of a golf cart, head bowed toward the ground as he was driven to his latest, sad, inexplicable postgame news conference.
The 34-27 loss to the Chargers still fresh, he took slow strides toward the podium where he would have to contemplate another night when a dominant performance of his went to waste.
He didn’t change his attitude when the cameras started rolling. He didn’t liven up to put on a happy face.
Days of hiding the reality are long gone.
Burrow looked beaten down. Beaten down by dropping back for another 50 passes and the punishment that comes along with it. Beaten down by a night where 356 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions weren’t good enough. Beaten down by a season where in seven losses he has thrown for an average of 308 yards per game with 18 touchdowns and two interceptions.
Joe Burrow speaks to the media following Week 11 in LA. https://t.co/ShH7aexKWu
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 18, 2024
Beaten down by having to be perfect while his defense hemorrhages for 30 minutes at a time and his kicker misses not one, but two go-ahead field goals.
Burrow spoke softly and searched for answers that were fleeting and repetitive. His face told the same story postgame that it did during a long walk to the sideline after the latest failed possession or staring blankly into space as the defense gave up three consecutive touchdown drives.
Beaten down by losing.
This is the most frustrating season of his life. Full stop.
Why?
“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory,” he said.
He beat himself up over missing a go ball and a slant to Ja’Marr Chase late in the game.
“We are not a good enough team to … our margin of error is slim,” Burrow said. “I got to make those plays. We all got to make those plays.”
GO DEEPER
Chargers survive Bengals with J.K. Dobbins’ late TD in 34-27 win: Takeaways
Those plays on the path to the most heartbreaking 4-7 in history now pile up like rubble. There’s Tanner Hudson raising his hands to celebrate too soon against New England. There’s fourth-and-16 in Kansas City. There’s Terry McLaurin’s deep ball versus Washington. Botched hold at home against Baltimore. There’s 35-34 in Baltimore. And now wide left from 51 and 48 in Los Angeles.
These postgame moments, these questions, these answers, these speeches would erode at anyone.
“It is sick the way these games are ending and the way we feel coming off the field every week,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “The feeling I got when I have to talk to the team in the locker room after all these endings this year.”
Taylor leaned into his personality of positivity and belief even as the odds grow dire. He rejected the idea of major changes needed despite the repeated punches to the gut.
“It’s just coming down to one play in every game,” he said. “Why would you make a big, wholesale change? That to me is just panic. That is not what we are about.”
Stars and veteran players around the locker room weren’t polished or hiding their emotions.
Tee Higgins, who returned from a quad injury to post 148 yards on nine receptions with a touchdown, used the word finish repeatedly. It slipped into almost every answer.
“Honestly, I don’t think we need to change nothing,” Higgins said. “We are playing hella good football … I don’t know what it is. We just got to finish. That’s the word. That is the word for the week. Finish the f—ing game.”
The word littered into conversations with Chase, as his frustration with these losses was also too heavy to hide.
When asked what it means to him to finish games, he turned his attention to the head coach.
“How do I do it?” Chase said. “I don’t know. Ask Zac. Ask the coaches. Don’t ask me. It’s not my job.”
Chase was venting now.
“I play football on the field,” he said. “I don’t call plays for us. So I can’t really do nothing.”
Ja’Marr Chase leaves the field after the Bengals’ 34-27 loss to the Chargers. (Sam Greene / Imagn Images)
Just as Burrow looks more beaten down each week, Chase looks closer to fully popping off. This tasted like an appetizer. A sampler platter of coaches, himself and kicker Evan McPherson were slid under the heat lamp.
“He knows to make those kicks,” Chase said. “That’s why we paid him those bucks. To make those kicks in crunch time.”
There’s no hiding for anyone. Certainly not on the sidelines as the NBC cameras caught Germaine Pratt yelling at Cam Taylor-Britt for the latest communication error that got him benched.
There was Trey Hendrickson with his helmet off yelling toward the sideline and slapping Taylor’s arm away as he blew past him to the sideline.
“You play with an edge,” Hendrickson said. “Everybody should. I love Zac. He’s a great head coach. He’s done a lot for me as a person. I love him. He plays with the same intensity and fire as me.”
Two post game minutes with Trey Hendrickson. pic.twitter.com/VliLoTWy5m
— Joe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) November 18, 2024
Which brings this back to Burrow, beleaguered and increasingly broken. The playoffs are still technically on the table, but like everything else in the aftermath of Sunday’s loss, even Burrow has trouble hiding the dwindling confidence that this team has the run they keep talking about in them.
“I guess we’ll find out,” he said. “I’m not happy with where we are at. I don’t think anybody is.”
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(Top photo: Ric Tapia / Getty Images)
