The Cincinnati Bengals will continue to take plenty of criticism for failing Joe Burrow this season even if the team manages to sneak into the playoffs.
Justifiably so, given the MVP-like showing from Burrow.
Or, as some would describe it, a Lebron James-type showing.
That one comes from Colin Cowherd, who recently compared Burrow’s season to LeBron’s first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“This is a 3-14 team without Joe Burrow… It reminds me of LeBron in Cleveland the first time…By the way, Burrow got to a Super Bowl and lost, LeBron got to a Finals and got ran out of the building…and then LeBron finally realized, ownership, front office, I’m wasting my time here.”
Any suggestion that Burrow might leave the Begnals is downright silly at this juncture, of course — but the rest of the comparison feels apt. The roster-building effort around Burrow is directly responsible for the failures of this season and it starts at the top with how the front office does contracts and how the scouting department and personnel decisions from Duke Tobin impact things on the field.
That said, Burrow applying public pressure on the team to keep Tee Higgins was the first sign of the star quarterback starting to throw his weight around in order to enact change.
And at this point…nobody can blame Burrow, either.