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In the aftermath of Super Bowl LVI, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said that the team will use their 23-20 loss to the Rams as fuel for the future and that he thinks “we’ll be back multiple times over the course of the next few years.”
Burrow’s confidence in what the future will bring is shared by one of his opponents from the other end of the career spectrum. Rams safety Eric Weddle came out of retirement for the playoff run and closed out his career by helping to keep the wraps on Burrow on Sunday night.
When the win was in the books, Weddle raved about Burrow to Albert Breer of SI.com and said he thinks that Burrow’s chance to celebrate after the final whistle of the season will come.
“I was obviously impressed,” Weddle said. “I mean, you don’t lead a team to the Super Bowl if you’re not all about it, right? And I just love his mentality, I love his moxie, I love him. He’s all ball and he’s not into the social media B.S. He’s not into the limelight. He’s not into what everyone else thinks. He just silently goes to work, and it’s refreshing to see. And obviously, I mean they’re gonna be good for a long time. His moment wasn’t tonight, but he’ll get his moment.”
Burrow’s future is undeniably bright, but so was Dan Marino’s after the Dolphins lost to the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX after his second NFL season. While Marino did have a Hall of Fame career, he never made it back to the Super Bowl after that loss at Stanford Stadium.
Given the number of promising young quarterbacks in the AFC, it won’t be easy for even the best of quarterbacks to get back to the Super Bowl routinely in the years to come. That should make for a lot of entertaining football, but it could also leave at least one star player without a ring to show for their efforts.
