Why Joe Burrow claims that 2026 Bengals are very similar to 2019 LSU Tigers originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Hypotheticals are no longer on the table. Joe Burrow knows that the Cincinnati Bengals have all that’s needed to get back and win the Super Bowl come 2027. This comes after they traded Dexter Lawrence out of the New York Giants along with signing guys like Jonathan Allen, Boye Mafe, and Bryan Cook. Having Super Bowl optimism is one thing but the quarterback thinks they are going to be dominant, just like one other team that he was on — the 2019 LSU Tigers.
Burrow makes bold ‘2019 LSU’ claim about 2026 Bengals
The LSU Tigers in 2019 were a very special team. They had a roaring offense headlined by Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase with their defense being held down Breiden Fehoko among others. Joe Burrow led this squad to an undefeated season capped by a College Football Playoff National Championship, so he knows exactly what forming a roster like this feels like. This is why he posits that the 2026 Bengals feels so much like his LSU squad from seven years ago, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
“You go back and watch what I’ve said before. 2019 season at LSU, I feel very similarly about this team. I’m so excited to get started and get moving. I wish we would ramp this right into training camp, so we can continue to improve because I feel like there’s so much greatness that we’re gonna be able to achieve this year,” the Bengals quarterback said.
Burrow has seen the top of the NFL before. He got the Bengals to a Super Bowl berth back in 2022 where they only fell 23-20 to the Los Angeles Rams. Ever since then, they had woes in retaining key offensive linemen and even some guys in the secondary which led to them having horrendous seasons. This was all capped off by a six-win season where they missed the postseason. The Bengals hope to no longer have these nightmares in their schedule and Burrow knows this.
The Bengals quarterback know that it’s now or never for their squad when it comes to winning the Super Bowl.
“This is a lot of urgency, a lot of urgency this year, certainly. We have everything we need. We’re deep at just about every single position on the team. We’ve talked in the locker room this year about in years past, you wonder who’s going to make the team, and it was top-heavy, and you wonder about the bottom guys… This is the first year that that is really the case in my opinion. It’s an exciting place to be when you have too many good players,” Burrow declared.
There’s a lot of talk when the offseason is at its peak but all will be tested for the Bengals when Week 1 rolls in. Can Burrow live up to the ghosts of 2019 LSU?
