Addressing Bengals' Dilemma: Should Joe Burrow Start Against Rams on Monday Night?

Cincinnati hosts Los Angeles at Paycor Stadium on Monday.

CINCINNATI — There has been plenty of talk about Joe Burrow's status ahead of Monday Night Football. He'll reportedly go through a workout this morning to help determine whether or not he'll play against the Rams. 

Some think Cincinnati should sit Burrow on Monday. Others believe he should be placed on injured reserve. 

Thousands of people [including me] wonder what Bengals owner Mike Brown said to Burrow on that golf cart before Friday's practice. Despite the speculation, the decision to play Burrow against the Rams could be a simple one—especially after his workout this morning. 

If both Burrow and the Bengals believe he can physically go out there and be effective against the Rams, then he should play on Monday night. 

He wouldn't have practiced this week, even in a limited capacity, if they didn't think there was a chance he'd be able to suit up. Burrow knows how important Monday night is for this team. If he didn't think he could manage this injury for the foreseeable future, he probably wouldn't be pushing to suit up. 

"I'm preparing like I'm going to go out and play a Monday Night Football game," Burrow said on Thursday. "Whether that happens, I don't know but I'm going to be prepared to."

The re-injury risk is a factor, but he'll face a similar risk if he plays anytime in the near future, including Week 4 against the Titans, Week 5 against the Cardinals or after the bye in Week 8. It takes time for calf strains to fully heal. 

The discourse won't end on Monday. Burrow's calf strain will likely linger over the next few weeks, and potentially months, as the Bengals try to rebound from an 0-2 hole for the second year in a row. 

He'll have to play hurt at some point. It may be Monday. It might be next week against the Titans. Burrow has been focused on finding a way to manage the injury over the past week. 

"It's obviously tough whenever you have an injury. Whenever you start 0-2 it's obviously not ideal," Burrow said. "That's the adversity of the season. That's the ups and downs of the year. The teams that come out on top at the end of it are the teams that handle that adversity the best. You can't let that snowball on you. That's what we've done in past. If you go back and look year to year to teams that are still in it at the end everybody has adversity at some point of the year. Everybody stinks at some point according to the media. We're just going to sit here and continue to get better. We're going to have good practices. We're going to take it week-by-week and that's all you can do."

His "week-by-week" logic makes sense. It's how he's going to have to approach his calf recovery. 

The Bengals have no plans of shutting Burrow down. He's going to play hurt at some point. The idea of him not returning until he's 100% is ridiculous. 

Not because anyone wants to put him at risk for further injury, but it's the reality of being an NFL player. Everyone has to play through some kind of ailment. Burrow has played through knee, hand and throat injuries since the Bengals took him with the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

It's why I'd let him play on Monday night. He clearly wants to suit up. If he's confident with where he's at physically and the medical team is comfortable with his progress, then why shouldn't he play? 

The Bengals have a chance to reset their season over the next six days. They face a beatable Titans team in Nashville on Sunday after their Monday night matchup with the Rams. 

It's a short week, which makes the decision to play Burrow a bit tougher with one less recovery day, but Cincinnati has a real chance at getting to 2-2 if they have their star quarterback on the field. 

If Burrow can play on Monday night, the Bengals should play him. 

After a week full of discourse ranging from "put Burrow on injured reserve" to "trade for Andy Dalton," Cincinnati should lean on the guy that has made them a perennial Super Bowl contender. 

Will he play? No one knows at this point, but I'd play Burrow on Monday night against the Rams. 

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