CINCINNATI, Ohio — The Bengals and Joe Burrow have emphasized that this year’s preseason holds more significance for them than in previous years. With how slowly they’ve started under Zac Taylor, Burrow has gotten far more reps this preseason than any other in his career.

Monday in the Bengals’ 31-17 win at Washington, he played three drives and 24 reps in total.

However, we saw the risks that come with those preseason reps.

RELATED: Bengals coach Zac Taylor justifies Joe Burrow’s extra preseason reps despite hits vs. Commanders

Burrow took multiple hard hits, including a sack for a 17-yard loss by Dorance Armstrong and Jacob Martin where he turned his back to the line of scrimmage and tried to scramble away before he was sacked. Later in the game, he was sacked by a horsecollar tackle by Deatrick Wise Jr., which drew a penalty.

Those hits naturally got Bengals fans worried about whether Burrow should have been pulled from the game to protect himself.

ESPN’s Jason Kelce strongly felt Taylor should have gotten Burrow out earlier.

“He shouldn’t even be doing that in the regular season. Like you what are you doing running around making circles like this?” Kelce said during ESPN’s halftime show. “He’s pressing because he knows a sense of urgency is right now.

“I would have pulled him after the first one. Sometimes, you got to save somebody from themselves.”

Kelce’s colleague on the set, Marcus Spears, agreed with his sentiment that the Bengals shouldn’t have kept Burrow in for as long as they did.

“I get it. The start to the season. Miss me with all that foolishness. Number one is Joe gotta be smarter than this,” Spears said about the first sack. “That’s number one. Then Zac Taylor, to that point, got to protect him.

“But then he goes in and gets hit again. This is the absolute worst scenario of your pseudo ‘I’m trying not to slow start during the season.’ I don’t care what nobody say. Joe Burrow might go throw for 500 yards in the first game, which is highly likely with what he has. But this situation, it’s never been right to me. It’s never been right. And for him to do that out there was totally disrespectful to me.”

Despite those hits, Burrow stayed in the game and finished the third drive with a touchdown pass to Charlie Jones to end his night. And that might have been the right call for Cincinnati.

A popular phrase used by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has been about not living “in our fears.”

By pulling Burrow too early given the reasons he’s playing extra preseason reps, they would have probably been giving into those fears.

The reality for Cincinnati is the Bengals are 1-11 in Weeks 1 and 2 under Taylor, and they open the season in Cleveland in Week 1. While the Browns are going through a transition season at quarterback, it’s still a division game and Burrow has won just once in Cleveland in four tries.

The Bengals missed the playoffs by a game last season after starting 0-3, including a stunning Week 1 home loss to the Patriots.

So there’s clearly an urgency to what Cincinnati is doing as Kelce referenced. And yes, there are risks to exposing Burrow to big hits as we saw on Monday night.

But those are the risks Taylor showed on Monday that he is willing to take based on keeping Burrow in after the two big hits.

Quarterbacks are going to get hit in the regular season countless times no matter how many times teams try to protect them. There’s only so much teams can do.

So in some ways, quarterbacks need to get used to taking those hits.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t understand the apprehension.

Burrow suffered a season-ending torn ACL and MCL in November of 2020 against Washington, and he means as much to the Bengals as any quarterback does to his respective team across the NFL. He’s also the only active quarterback who has prevented Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs from reaching a Super Bowl.

It’s a difficult tightrope to walk and Monday was proof of it.

However, the Bengals made the right decision to keep Burrow in the game after those hits. Ryan Clark, who was on the ESPN set with Kelce and Spears, understood why the Bengals are taking the risk they are this preseason.

“I absolutely get what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to say we’re going to do something different, and I think Joe Burrow as the leader is saying that we’re going to do something different,” Clark said on ESPN. “There were camps that he’s missed with injuries. There’s been slow starts because people were waiting on contracts to be done.

“Joe Burrow is saying, as the leader, I’m going to step forward and be the guy to set the example that the preseason matters, that practice matters. But even as (Marcus) says, though, he has to be smart about the way he goes about it.”

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