Cincinnati Bengals' season takes 180-degree turn with Joe Burrow injury, loss to Ravens

BALTIMORE –– For a split-second on Thursday night, the Cincinnati Bengals were right where they wanted to be.

Quarterback Joe Burrow threw a touchdown to running back Joe Mixon that gave the Bengals the lead in the middle of the second quarter. The Bengals offense looked like they had found answers against the best defense in football, and Burrow put the Bengals in control of a game that was inevitably going to swing the AFC North.

As Mixon celebrated that touchdown, Burrow doubled over and grabbed his right wrist. The good vibes evaporated, and the scope of the Bengals’ 2023 season immediately changed.

Bengals Ravens Joe Burrow Zac Taylor updates Joe Burrow injury news: Bengals believe its sprained wrist

After Burrow left the game with a right wrist injury –– which head coach Zac Taylor said looked like a sprained wrist –– the Baltimore Ravens beat the Bengals, 34-20, at M&T Bank Stadium.

“This organization,” Bengals center Ted Karras said, “Runs through No. 9.”

Now with Burrow’s status going forward up in the air, the last-place Bengals are likely out of the division race. The Ravens are 8-3 while the Bengals are 5-5, and the Bengals have the toughest schedule in the NFL ahead of them.

That split-second with 5:53 left in the second quarter was full of potential. The Bengals were 0-14 in road primetime games since 2013, but anything is possible with Burrow. When the Ravens double-teamed Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and prioritized taking away the deep ball, Burrow picked apart the Ravens with throws over the middle of the field and audibled to productive runs by Mixon.

After Mixon’s touchdown, he did a dance with Chase and the offensive linemen in the end zone. When the rest of the offense made it back to the sideline, Burrow was heading to the medical tent.

“I only saw when I came back to the sideline,” tight end Tanner Hudson said. “You never like to see anybody go to the tent . . . Then I saw him try to throw. It’s a quick game. You’ve got to roll with the punches.”

Seasons can change in the blink of an eye. Or with a flick of the wrist. After Burrow left the game, the Ravens scored two touchdowns over the next six minutes to take a 21-10 lead into halftime.

“Obviously when you lose your starting quarterback that’s tough,” Taylor said. “But I felt like our guys knew we were still in the game and kept fighting. It didn’t go our way. We didn’t get enough points on the board. We didn’t find enough ways to keep points off the board. I really felt guys kept the right mindset as the game went on, we just didn’t get it done.”

Backup quarterback Jake Browning, who hadn’t completed a pass in the NFL before Thursday’s game, made it a one-score game by leading a field goal drive to start the third quarter. But with the Bengals trailing, Browning spent most of his night scrambling around the pocket, trying to keep plays alive and throwing 50-50 balls down the field.

After the Bengals fell to 5-5 on the year, Chase said that he isn’t used to seasons with as much adversity as this one.

“We've got to adjust and make changes, probably,” Chase said. “We’ve got to get back in the lab and keep working. We can’t back down. We have to keep marching forward one day at a time.”

The Bengals’ defense hasn’t been consistent all season, and the unit turned in another disappointing game against Baltimore. After Burrow’s injury, just about everything went wrong for the Bengals’ defense. The Bengals couldn’t stop the run, they weren’t rushing the passer, they were called for penalties in the secondary and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson played like an MVP candidate.

The Ravens took a 14-10 lead in the second quarter on a touchdown pass that tipped from the hands of Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt to Ravens wide receiver Nelson Agholor. Jackson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the second quarter as the Ravens took a two-score lead, and the Ravens opened the second half with two field goal drives to take a 27-13 lead.

The Ravens finished the game with 405 yards and scored more points than the Bengals have allowed all year.

“It was about us at the end of the day,” Bengals defensive tackle BJ Hill said. “It was (the defense). Little things. We gave up too many points. When we got up 10-7, we should have won the game. It’s on the defense. When the offense gives us a lead, we’ve got to put it away. At the end of the day, I think it’s our fault.”

The Bengals’ 2023 season has been a reminder of the value of a franchise quarterback. Training camp stopped in its tracks when Burrow strained his calf in July. The day before the season started, he became the highest-paid player in NFL history when he signed his contract extension.

The Bengals spent the month of September in a rut. As they went 1-3, Burrow tried to battle through the pain in his calf but didn’t look anything like his normal self on the field. He regained mobility in October, carried the Bengals back into the playoff race and showed that the 2023 Bengals were good enough to beat anybody.

The entire Bengals’ season has revolved around what Burrow can do with the ball in his hands. On Thursday night, Burrow wasn’t even able to grip it.

“Joe will do whatever it takes to help this organization win,” Karras said. “He’s the leader of this ball club. I don’t have any information on what happened. I’m sure as the weekend goes on, everyone will get more information.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow injury, loss to Baltimore Ravens