The Bengals‘ worst possible nightmare for the 2020 season might have just happened after quarterback Joe Burrow went down with a serious knee injury in Sunday’s matchup with Washington. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft was carted off early in the second half after taking a blow to his left leg.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has reported that the Bengals fear it’s an ACL and MCL injury, but they won’t know for sure until the results of the MRI come in. Although the Bengals haven’t made an official announcement about the injury, Burrow seems to be under the realization that his season is over. The rookie quarterback tweeted out “see ya next year” nearly an hour after suffering the injury.
Burrow was ruled out of the game just minutes after suffering the injury.
The injury happened with just under 12 minutes left in the third quarter. On the play, Burrow dropped back to pass on a third-and-2 play from his own 10-yard line and just as he finished throwing the ball, a Washington defender fell into his leg. As soon as he took the hit, Burrow immediately grabbed for his left knee and appeared to be in a lot of pain.
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After team trainers examined Burrow for several minutes, the Bengals quarterback was carted off the field. Burrow was replaced by Ryan Finley, who went into a game that the Bengals were leading 9-7 at the time of the injury.
As Burrow was being carted off the field, nearly every player on the Bengals bench came out to check on him.
Just minutes after Burrow was carted off the field, the Bengals declared him out for the rest of the game. Before being knocked out of the game, Burrow completed 22 of 34 for 203 yards and a touchdown.
Burrow has been taking big hits all season, but before Sunday he had managed to get up every single time. Through the Bengals’ first nine games, Burrow had been hit a total of 72 times, which was tied with Daniel Jones for the most by a rookie quarterback in his first nine games over the past 20 years. A big reason Burrow has taken so many hits is because the Bengals’ offensive line has been playing below average football for nearly the entire season. In Sunday’s game against Washington, the big hits continued as Burrow got lit up several times, including one that came from Chase Young in the second quarter.
Young was actually one of several Washington players who went over to talk to Burrow before the quarterback left the field.
Fantasy analyst Heath Cummings broke down the fantasy ramifications of the injury, which you can check out here.
Despite the struggles from his offensive line, Burrow had still somehow managed to thrive this year. In nine full games, Burrow threw for 300 or more yards a total of five times, which was tied for the second most in NFL history by a rookie.
In the video below, you can see exactly how the injury happened:
