EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsCINCINNATI -- There are a couple of reasons Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow isn't backing down from the championship chatter before the start of the new season.For starters, Burrow is hopeful that by talking about it enough, he can will a potential run to the Super Bowl into existence.The other reason? After two seasons of falling short after deep playoff runs, followed by three years of missing the postseason, enough is enough. Burrow is treating this season as a now-or-never year for Cincinnati."You can keep pushing it down the road or you can talk about it now and say this is the year," Burrow said Thursday. "You know, I'm tired of saying, 'Next year, next year, next year.' This is it."Your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road. I'm trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and be great every day and try to make it happen."That urgency has been a theme throughout the offseason and on Thursday following the team's joint practice against the Chicago Bears. While both first-team offenses had their fair share of good moments during team drills, Cincinnati closed the day with a clean victory.In the final two periods that mimicked the last 3:30 of a game, the Bengals' starters won both of them. Following a defensive stop, the offense moved the ball just enough to put kicker Evan McPherson in position for a field goal that won the period.In the second period, Cincinnati's defense dominated. First, newly acquired defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II picked off a ball he batted into the air. Then, defensive end Myles Murphy got two sacks, including one safety, before cornerback Jalen Davis intercepted Chicago's Caleb Williams as Williams remained under pressure a few yards away from his own goal line.It was exactly the type of showing the Bengals were hoping for when Cincinnati revamped the team after a 6-11 campaign last year. It was the first losing season since Burrow's rookie year in 2020 and a far cry from the team that lost in Super Bowl LVI in Jan. 2022 and lost in the AFC Championship Game a year later.In recent months, Burrow has spoken about his title aspirations, even drawing comparisons from this year's Bengals roster to the 2019 LSU team he led to an undefeated season and College Football Playoff title.That talk has been intentional. "I'm trying to put it out into the world," Burrow said. "I'm trying to manifest it. I'm trying to show our guys the urgency that I have and that I want us to have as an organization to go and make it happen."Since the end of last season, Cincinnati has operated as aggressively as it ever has. It signed linebacker Boye Mafe to a three-year, $60 million deal, and traded for Lawrence, which has already provided promising returns. After beating up on Cincinnati's offensive line throughout training camp, he caused havoc against the Bears."He's an All-Pro guy," said Williams, adding that Lawrence is in the same category as Kansas City's Chris Jones." He's a force to be reckoned with, and that's something that you go into a game week that you plan for him, that you plan to execute against him and doing things that aren't necessarily in his favor."Cincinnati's front office held up its end of the bargain when it came to producing a championship-level defense. Burrow said on Thursday that he believes the side of the ball that struggled so much over the last two seasons is good enough to push the Bengals back to the Super Bowl.However, an offense that is tinkering with a more varied attack is still trying to find its footing as the preseason winds down. Burrow acknowledged as much on Thursday."We have to be more consistent on offense," Burrow said. "Our standard is so high, but it's so high because of what we've done and what we can do."Cincinnati still has three weeks until the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.That's when the Bengals will start to find out if it will finally be the year it all comes together -- or what might happen if it doesn't.
