The Cincinnati Bengals got shut out by the Baltimore Ravens 24-0 on Sunday. Sunday was the first time Burrow had been shut out in his NFL career. This ugly loss comes on the heels of Burrow’s reflective comments early last week about how he needs to be having fun if he wants to continue playing football.
Greg Olsen Believes Joe Burrow Sent a Cryptic Message to the Bengals Organization
On Monday morning, former NFL tight end and current Fox broadcaster Greg Olsen made an appearance on the “Wake Up Bastool” podcast. Olson made his stance on Burrow’s comments very clear.
He said,” Winning is fun. And I don’t care how good you play or how much money you make. The couple of seasons, this season, the injuries, the losses, putting up 30 a game and losing. I saw a stat yesterday that in the last two years, they’ve scored 34 points six times and lost.”
Olsen added, ” That’s not fun. I’ve been on some teams where you love the guys in the locker room, you love coming in, you love being around everybody. But you lose, and no matter what you do, you just can’t flip it, and you’re losing… I don’t buy the whole Joe Burrow is considering not playing… I do think he’s sending a message there in his own discreet way if we don’t make decisions around here that can actually lead to my performance actually winning games, then I may need to look somewhere else.”
.@gregolsen88 and @BarstoolGruden react to Joe Burrow’s comments about wanting to have fun playing football again pic.twitter.com/w0sGKOmgoF
— Wake Up Barstool (@wakeupbarstool) December 15, 2025
Olsen’s belief that Burrow is sending a subtle message to the Bengals appears justified. Burrow has been in the league for six seasons and has finished only three without suffering an injury. In each of those healthy seasons, Cincinnati finished above .500.
However, those winning years have resulted in just two playoff appearances. In 2021, the Bengals reached the Super Bowl before losing to the Los Angeles Rams.
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In 2022, they returned to the AFC Championship Game, where they fell to the Kansas City Chiefs. For a quarterback of Burrow’s caliber, the organization’s continued failure to build a roster that keeps him healthy and consistently contends is understandably frustrating.
In the five games that Burrow has played this season, he has had one of the biggest impacts on his team. According to PFSN’s QB impact metric, Burrow has an impact score of 76.7, making him the 15th-best quarterback in the NFL. Given that he is ranked above other QBs who have played the entire season, it shows just how valuable he is to the team.
