Throughout some down time in the course of the two weeks between the AFC Championship Sport and the Tremendous Bowl, Joe Burrow watched a documentary on Corridor of Fame quarterback and household good friend Kurt Warner. Within the locker room following the Bengals’ loss to the Rams, Burrow considered one thing from the documentary that helped form his postgame perspective.
“They misplaced one,” Burrow stated, referring to the Tremendous Bowl Warner and the Rams misplaced to the Patriots 20 years in the past. “Later throughout the documentary, he stated that they let it sting an excessive amount of, that they did not have a good time what they achieved.
“Clearly, it stings, however we had an ideal yr. Did not come out this final recreation the way in which we wished to, however I feel we nonetheless have one thing to have a good time.”
In the documentary, Warner described the frustration of shedding to the Patriots in Tremendous Bowl XXXVI. A 14-point favourite, the Rams have been unable to win their second Lombardi Trophy in three years, an achievement that might have positioned them in a choose class of groups which have gained a number of championships.
“The one recreation in my profession that I’ve thought greater than any of the others was shedding that Tremendous Bowl,” Warner stated. “Dropping that chance to do one thing distinctive and particular.”
Seven years later, Warner suffered one other last-minute loss within the Tremendous Bowl. However his expertise in Tremendous Bowl XXXVI helped him view the Cardinals’ 27-23 loss to the Steelers in a distinct mild.
“You’d assume [it] could be much like the Patriots recreation the place it could simply demoralize you, a recreation that you considered typically,” Warner stated. “However my perspective modified, not solely in that season however as an individual and all through my profession.”
Like Warner, Burrow and his teammates aren’t taking solace in the truth that they got here near successful the Tremendous Bowl. Whereas they’d some of the surprising Tremendous Bowl runs in historical past, the Bengals have been centered solely on successful the franchise’s first Tremendous Bowl after they’d come up brief of their first two journeys to the massive recreation.
Enjoying towards a staff who many picked to make a deep playoff run in the course of the preseason, the Bengals (a staff many picked to complete final within the AFC North this season) said their case to be topped world champions. As they did a number of weeks earlier in Kansas Metropolis, the Bengals overcame an early deficit. The Bengals led for a lot of the second half till Cooper Kupp’s game-winning landing with 1:25 left. Burrow led Cincinnati previous midfield on their closing drive, however as soon as there, the Rams’ move rush uncovered one side of the Bengals’ staff that may definitely be addressed this offseason with a view to put Burrow in a greater place to succeed if he and the Bengals are ever in an analogous scenario.
They got here up brief on Sunday night time, however Burrow stated that he will not let it diminish what was a particular season in Cincinnati. A franchise that had endured 31 years with no playoff win, the Bengals gained three playoff video games this previous January. Within the course of, they revitalized a metropolis and a fan base that over the previous twenty years had grown accustomed to being let down.
Cincinnati’s fan base has a number of causes to be optimistic for the longer term. A lot of that optimism begins with their quarterback, who expects this Tremendous Bowl expertise to be the primary of a number of ones for himself and the franchise.
“We’re a younger staff,” Burrow stated on Sunday night time. “You’d prefer to assume that we’ll be again on this scenario a number of instances over the course of the following few years. We take this and let it gasoline you for the remainder of our careers.”
