There was a play at the beginning of the second half of Sunday’s Bengals-49ers showdown that, for the rest of us, would probably be way down the list of Cincinnati highlights from what became a revival afternoon for the AFC juggernaut. It was a run-of-the-mill second-and-9 from the San Francisco 40, the third play of the third quarter, with the visitors to Santa Clara clinging to a 14–10 lead.
Joe Burrow took the snap and, almost immediately, a bullrush from his old college buddy, Nick Bosa, had left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. backing into the quarterback’s lap. Burrow saw it coming, and quickly flashed to Brown’s left—getting Bosa to disengage that way. He then exploded back inside Brown, eventually cutting the run all the way back across the grain, then darting down through the belly of a loaded defense for the first down. And then some.
By the time three Niners converged on him at the 40, Burrow had 20 yards. As he popped back to his feet, he grabbed his face mask and slapped his helmet twice.
Burrow was pretty excited. He had reason to be.
He’s back. And with each run like that one, he knew it.
See, the Bengals’ quarterback is a much better all-around athlete than he gets credit for. He was once an all-state prep basketball player, a 1,400-point scorer and four-year varsity player in that sport; and a good enough baseball player to, despite not playing since middle school, have hit four homers while taking batting practice at a Reds game back in the spring. He also rushed for nearly 400 yards in both his years as a starter at LSU.
And so for all the frustrations the Bengals’ star harbored the last three months in dealing with a nagging calf strain, it might surprise you that his inability to put all that athletic ability on display was near the top of his list. Especially after the offseason he’d just had.
It was, in fact, the first thing he brought up when I asked whether he felt like himself again.
“I felt good today,” he said from the bowels of Levi’s Stadium after the Bengals’ 31–17 win. “I felt good today. And that was really because all offseason I’ve worked on my athleticism and my running ability a lot. Just hasn’t been something that I’ve been able to showcase. So it’s nice seeing hard work pay off.”
If Sunday was any indication, a lot of things are starting to pay off for a Bengals team that’s had to endure a wobbly start to a season that brought astronomical expectations, both from the outside and from within. And with a lot of that now in the rearview mirror, Sunday sure had the look of a foot-in-the-ground-and-go moment for both Burrow and his team.
That every part of Burrow’s game is working again is a big part of it. That every part of the Bengals’ operation is starting to pull on all cylinders would be, too.
