At 3-8 and with their playoff hopes hanging on by the thinnest of threads, the Cincinnati Bengals played arguably their best game of the 2025 season on Thanksgiving Day.
It helped to finally have their franchise quarterback in the lineup again. Joe Burrow's return resulted in a surprisingly lopsided victory over the division rival Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, thrilling the entire organization in a season in which such joys have been rare.
For Burrow, he was simply happy to be playing football again.
"Obviously, I had to knock the rust off in the first half, so I expected myself to play better, but it was good to be out there," he said after the 32-14 win, via the team's transcript. "A lot of emotions running through it at the end of the game. It's just good to be back with the guys."
Burrow's return happened slightly earlier than most expected when it became clear he'd miss months with the toe injury that forced him out of the Bengals' Week 2 win over Jacksonville and required surgery. The belief was he'd be able to rejoin his teammates in December for what the Bengals hoped would be a stretch run to the playoffs, provided they could stay afloat without him.
They didn't, going 1-8 without their signal-caller and disappearing from relevance in the larger NFL landscape. But signs of a potential turnaround have been surfacing in recent weeks.
The Bengals' much-maligned defense has seemingly fixed most of its issues over the last few weeks, keeping Cincinnati in a tight battle with Pittsburgh before the Bengals crumbled in the fourth quarter of their 34-12 loss in Week 11. A week later, that same defense performed very well, giving the Bengals multiple chances to win a game that ended in a six-point defeat at the hands of the Patriots.
On Thursday night, the defense forced a season-high five turnovers, giving Cincinnati's offense plenty of opportunities to bury Baltimore. With Burrow back in the fold, the Bengals did just that, shaking off a disjointed first-half showing to outscore the Ravens 20-7 in the final two quarters and cruise to victory.
Burrow completed 24 of 46 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns, tossing both scores in a second half that showed a notable uptick in accuracy for the quarterback. As Burrow explained afterward, he graduated from feeling "a little antsy" in the first half to "more comfortable" in the second half, and the results spoke for themselves.
"I thought the second half, I started to put it more where I wanted. I settled in a little bit," he said. "I certainly missed some throws that I typically make. But after that, I felt pretty comfortable back there. I thought the O-line did great, we ran it well. Obviously, the defense played great. I've just got to keep getting better."
Burrow traveled a challenging road to return to the field this season, undergoing surgery and aggressively attacking his rehab in order to give himself a chance to play again. At 4-8, the Bengals are still two and a half games behind the division-leading Steelers (6-5) with five games to play, meaning there is certainly a chance they could salvage their season if things go right for them outside of Cincinnati.
Burrow admitted he took a moment to reflect on his 2025 journey after the win, expressing pride in himself and the organization for making a return possible. Because he's back, the Bengals might also believe their season isn't over quite yet.
"There's no better feeling than that," Burrow said. "Putting in work for a long time and going out and it paying off, there's just no feeling like going out in front of the world with a group of guys that work really hard to go try and win games. Going out and putting on a good performance and winning that game.
"Obviously, we have a lot of games left, but we're going to enjoy this one. We have a mini bye weekend. Everyone's going to go home and have Thanksgiving with their family, smile and eat, and feel good about it."
