CINCINNATI — Forty-eight minutes after Chris Boswell’s 53-yard field goal in overtime delivered the final, most punishing blow to Joe Burrow in a 23-20 loss, the Bengals quarterback still was sitting at his locker, in full uniform.
By then, there were more media members in the locker room than players. Sam Hubbard stopped by for a quick chat on his way out, while Ja’Marr Chase swung by for a quick dap. Then center Ted Karras approached uneasily, telling his quarterback he didn’t know what he’s like after a loss and asking whether he should just get lost.
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Karras, one of the three offensive linemen the Bengals signed to make sure Burrow didn’t take the kind of beating he absorbed Sunday with seven sacks and 11 hits, was getting his first look at post-loss Burrow, same as all the media members who haven’t been allowed in the locker room since the Bengals drafted Burrow in the 2020 COVID-19 season.
Maybe this is how Burrow processes every loss, and his intense staredown with the wall on the other side of the room is nothing new.
But what was new were his four interceptions. Burrow had thrown three in a game only once — in Week 2 at Chicago last year. He never threw more than two in a game at LSU. And it’s probably safe to assume he never threw that many at Athens High School.
“Obviously, you don’t want to throw four picks, but I never panicked,” Burrow said. “We stayed even-keeled, and we came back and put ourselves in position to win.”
Minkah Fitzpatrick, who baited Burrow into an interception on his first pass of the game and returned it for a touchdown, blocked Evan McPherson’s extra point attempt with two seconds remaining in regulation, otherwise, the narrative coming out of this one would have been similar to that of the nine-sack, divisional playoff win against the Titans last year — that Burrow can overcome almost anything.
Sunday’s seven sacks were the second most of his career. The 11 hits were tied for the third most. His 61.7 passer rating was his worst. He also lost a fumble that led to a field goal as the Bengals fell into a 14-point hole.
Only a biceps injury to long snapper Clark Harris — and the ensuing positional ripple effect that led to the blocked PAT — kept Burrow and the Bengals from pulling off one of the most unlikely wins in franchise history instead of stewing about the nadir of his young career.
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Burrow didn’t have much to say in his postgame news conference, even though the only place he was in a hurry to get to was the folding chair in front of his locker. His answers — like the time had to throw most of the afternoon — were short.
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He had chances to blame his poor performance on the appendectomy that set him back in training camp; on the country club atmosphere this offseason not getting the players ready; or on the poor pass protection that not only put him on the ground but made him throw a number of passes with one of his linemen being driven into his lap.
“You don’t make any excuses,” he said. “It is what it is.”
But clearly the pass protection was an issue. Rookie left guard Cordell Volson’s “welcome to the NFL” moment came on the first play when he allowed a sack, and it lasted the entire first half thanks to Cameron Heyward. And right tackle La’el Collins had a rough go against T.J. Watt before the reigning defensive player of the year left with a pectoral injury in the fourth quarter.
“It’s uncomfortable,” Collins said of watching Burrow get hit as much as he did.
“You don’t want anybody touching your quarterback,” Collins added. “It starts with me. It starts with the guys up front. We’ve got to take more pride in making sure he stays upright.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do, obviously. That’s just what it comes down to. Gotta get back to work and fine-tune the details. Felt like I was on the ground too much and it felt like a few times I was late off the ball. I don’t think it was anything the defense did. I think it was more so self-inflicted.”
Four of the Bengals’ first five possessions ended in turnovers, including three in a row after McPherson hit a franchise-record 59-yard field goal to get the Bengals within 7-3 late in the first quarter.
Alex Highsmith had a strip sack, Watt leaped to snare a short pass intended for Hayden Hurst and Cameron Sutton plucked a deep pass over the middle that Burrow forced into double coverage.
Burrow had never committed four turnovers in a game, and here he was doing it less than 21 minutes into the season opener.
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“They made some really good plays,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “We’ll review them and make sure that, if we can make improvements at whatever position, we’ll make them. You got to give credit to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They showed up ready to play. They made some plays on some balls that were really great plays.”
Burrow’s fifth turnover came early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-6 play at the Pittsburgh 36 with the Bengals down six. The Bengals likely would have sent McPherson out for a 54-yard field goal attempt had Harris been available to snap. Instead, Burrow again forced a ball to a double-covered Tyler Boyd over the middle, and Ahkello Witherspoon intercepted it.
“They had a good plan and showed some new things,” Burrow said.
That Burrow recovered from his awful first half and put the Bengals in position to win with a 6-yard pass to Chase with two seconds left in regulation is not a silver lining or a moral victory. Burrow clearly wasn’t taking it that way, and neither was anyone else in the locker room.
But it was reassurance, both for those who have played with Burrow for a while and those who just did it for the first time, that even when things sink to historic levels, Burrow will give them a chance.
“Joe’s a beast,” Karras said. “No one’s freaking out. No one’s thinking anything other than the fact that we lost today. Everyone has their own things that they wish they would have done differently after any loss, especially one as dramatic as that.
“He put us in several positions to win that game, and the defense played amazing. I had faith we were gonna win the game the whole time. Ultimately, we had four legitimate shots to end it. We didn’t.”
The belief is that Burrow can turn a bad week into a good one the same way he can rally from half to half. But the man who knows him best and has played with him the longest isn’t 100 percent sure.
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Asked what Burrow’s like the week after a bad performance, Chase said, “I don’t know,” adding that he’d never seen him struggle like he did Sunday.
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But there have been bad games. Burrow didn’t throw more than one interception in a game as a rookie, but the Bengals were 3-1 in games after he threw multiple picks last year, and the game they lost may have been his best performance of the lot.
After three picks in the loss at Chicago, he threw three touchdowns and had a 122.9 rating in a 24-10 win at Pittsburgh the next week.
After throwing two interceptions in the home loss to the Packers, Burrow came back with three touchdowns and a 115.7 rating at Detroit.
Coming off his two-pick day against the Browns, he played mistake-free in a run-dominated victory at Las Vegas.
And after throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble in the loss to the Chargers, he completed 73.5 percent of his passes while throwing for 348 yards and two touchdowns in an overtime loss to the 49ers.
Despite all that, looking back may not provide the best answer when it comes to how Burrow will respond.
Instead, it’s sitting on a chair in a mostly empty locker room as the chaos of Sunday dissolves into a quiet, steely stare.
(Photo: Michael Hickey / Getty Images)
