Bengals QB will have season-ending surgery
The worst-case scenario has been confirmed, as Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow will have season-ending wrist surgery on a torn ligament suffered in Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. Burrow left the field in severe pain after throwing a touchdown pass to Joe Mixon in the Bengals 34-20 loss to the Ravens.
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Backup QB Jake Browning will take over for the 5-5 Bengals, who are now a long shot to make the playoffs.
Betting impact of Burrow injury
The Bengals went from 30/1 to 100/1 to win the Super Bowl at DraftKings Sportsbook, so they were at fairly long odds to begin with after a tough start to the season and a third loss in division play, but they have virtually no shot now.
The Bengals are also now +4500 to win the AFC North, as they sit in last place and are effectively 3.5 games behind the Ravens because they lost both head-to-head meetings. Those odds would have been long with or without Burrow, but his absence definitely makes a huge difference.
The lookahead line for Bengals vs. Steelers next week showed Cincinnati -5 at most sportsbooks, but that line was taken down and will have Pittsburgh as a road favorite, depending on how the Steelers escape from the game against the Browns on Sunday.
Bengals remaining schedule
The remaining schedule for the Bengals was going to be tough with Burrow, but ramps up in difficulty without him.
Week 12: vs. Steelers
Week 13: @ Jaguars
Week 14: vs. Colts
Week 15: vs. Vikings
Week 16: @ Steelers
Week 17: @ Chiefs
Week 18: vs. Browns
With Jake Browning at QB, it would be fair to say that the Bengals won’t be favored in another game this season. Cincinnati’s season win total coming into the year was 10.5 at most sportsbooks, even with the calf injury that Burrow suffered in training camp that took away his preseason and also led to a slow start to the regular season.
Jake Browning stats
Browning, who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Vikings in 2019, has only played two NFL games in his career and is 8-of-15 passing for 68 yards and a touchdown. He had one pass attempts against the Browns back in Week 1 and was 8-of-14 for 68 yards and a touchdown in relief of Burrow on Thursday night.
The Bengals opted to keep Browning over Trevor Siemian as the backup to Burrow and also have AJ McCarron on the roster, but they may be looking for some QB help from the litany of free agent veterans that are out there, like Joe Flacco, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan, and others.
