Joe Burrow gets called out by young Bengals fan during Fanatics Fest meet-and-greet
Pressure is on Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, even from the youngest of fans.Cincinnati's quarterback and Kay Adams met a young Bengals fan named Asher alongside Kay Adams at Fanatics Fest. Young Asher called Burrow his favorite player."We're gonna have a great year for ya," Burrow said. A great year for Asher means one thing in particular. "Better […]
Pressure is on Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, even from the youngest of fans.
Cincinnati's quarterback and Kay Adams met a young Bengals fan named Asher alongside Kay Adams at Fanatics Fest. Young Asher called Burrow his favorite player.
"We're gonna have a great year for ya," Burrow said.
A great year for Asher means one thing in particular.
"Better make the playoffs."
Talk about being put on the spot. Burrow successfully matched his energy.
"Rightfully so," Burrow responded. "Rightfully so."
The 2024 season was the first time Burrow played an entire 17-game schedule, and the first time he finished a season without a trip to the postseason.
By all objective measures, Cincinnati falling short of the playoffs was not Burrow's fault. He managed to earn MVP votes after leading the NFL in passing yardage (4,918) and passing touchdowns (43) while posting the fourth-highest EPA/play among starting QBs. He even won Comeback Player of the Year for the second time in his career.
Despite the great individual season Burrow had, he's essentially the face of the team, especially for the younger generation. The blessing and curse of quarterbacking a team is receiving as much credit as blame for how the year turns out, and then receiving pressure to do it again or right last year's wrong.
The Bengals identified their defense as the culprit this offseason and made several coaching and personnel changes to that side of the ball. Burrow coming relatively close to replicating his 2024 campaign with an improved defense is the path toward him granting Asher's demand.
