The Cincinnati Bengals are all-in on returning to the Super Bowl.
The offseason upgrades, including trading the No. 10 overall pick for veteran Dexter Lawrence, have Cincy primed to make a run after missing the playoffs the past three seasons. Now the pressure is on to live up to the expectations.
Quarterback Joe Burrow likened it to the pressure he felt in college before leading a 15-0 LSU team to the championship.
"I think that's great. Put pressure on guys. I love it," he said Wednesday as Cincy's mandatory minicamp wrapped up. "I thrive in it. We'll find out who else does. I know that we have the kind of people that want to be in that spot. I want everybody talking about the Bengals. I want everybody talking about what I'm saying in my press conferences.
"You go back and watch what I've said before. 2019 season at LSU, I feel very similarly about this team. I'm so excited to get started and get moving. I wish we would ramp this right into training camp, so we can continue to improve because I feel like there's so much greatness that we're gonna be able to achieve this year."
Burrow noted that the Bengals "filled just about every hole that we've had" entering the offseason. Cincy made significant upgrades to a struggling defense, an area Burrow noted after the 2025 season needed to improve. In addition to Lawrence, they added Boye Mafe, Jonathan Allen, Bryan Cook and rookie Cashius Howell.
"This is a lot of urgency, a lot of urgency this year, certainly," the Bengals QB said. "We have everything we need. We're deep at just about every single position on the team. We've talked in the locker room this year about in years past, you wonder who's going to make the team, and it was top-heavy, and you wonder about the bottom guys. This year, it's guys that were once that top level, they're on the team for sure now, [but] there's a lot of competition at those spots on the 53, 54, 55, at the end of that list. This is the first year that that is really the case in my opinion. It's an exciting place to be when you have too many good players."
The Bengals are a trendy offseason squad to go far in the AFC -- assuming Burrow can stay healthy. The star QB doesn't shy away from the expectations.
"We're going in expecting to win every game that we step foot on the field," he said. "Obviously, you want to win a Super Bowl, and that's certainly the plan, but you've got to take it one day at a time, one week at a time. I'm excited for the journey."
