When the Cincinnati Bengals lost Joe Burrow in Week 2 of the 2025 season, it was a disaster, but there was still some hope. The Bengals had been in this position before, and backup quarterback Jake Browning had proven reliable in the past.
Then they got embarrassed in Week 3, and that disaster turned into a catastrophe.
The offense, after committing five turnovers, looked bad enough that there were online rumblings about the Bengals trading for Kirk Cousins, who was benched by the Falcons in favor of Michael Penix Jr. in Week 2.
When judging the biggest overreactions to Week 3, ESPN’s Dan Graziano said placing a call to the Falcons about Cousins’ availability wouldn’t necessarily be an overreaction; he still didn’t see it happening.
“I also didn’t get the sense last week that this was something Cincinnati would consider,” he wrote. “I’m not sure they see the 2025 version of Cousins as a marked improvement over Browning, given their familiarity with Browning. But if they’re still holding onto hope that Burrow can come back toward the end of the season, and the mission is to keep things afloat until that happens, Browning must look a lot better than he did Sunday. Or else the Bengals will have to look at other options.”
It is true the offense was ugly on Sunday in Minneapolis, but it was just one game. If Browning bounces back and the offense looks the way it did in 2023 when he played in Burrow’s place, the one loss could just be a bump in an otherwise smooth road. If not, that smooth road becomes undrivable. At that point, the Bengals may have to make a call.
Hopefully, things don’t ever get to that point.