Nothing has gone according to plan for the Cincinnati Bengals thus far in the 2023 regular season. They had a disastrous Week 1, losing to the Cleveland Browns 24-3 as the offense couldn’t get out of its own way. Quarterback Joe Burrow had the least productive game of his career as they had no response to what Cleveland was showing them.

In Week 2, the offense got things on track. But, it wasn’t enough to pull off the victory as the Bengals lost 27-24 to the Baltimore Ravens. That was an especially disappointing defeat given how many key players that Baltimore was missing from their lineup because of injury.

On top of that, Burrow re-injured the calf injury that he suffered early on in training camp which sidelined him for six weeks. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the mishap occurred with about three minutes remaining in the game.

Burrow didn’t return to the game, but Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said that he would have been able to go back in had it been necessary. The team is going to wait a few days to see how things go, as they were noncommittal about the extent of the injury.

That is the last thing the Bengals needed to have happen in what has already been a disastrous 2023 campaign. It will be something people will be keeping a very close eye on as calf injuries are an injury that can linger.

There were some people who believed that Burrow’s poor Week 1 performance was tied to the calf injury. Not only did it limit his practice time to prepare for the season opener, he may not have been 100 percent healthy and confident to be back on the field.

If there is any team in the NFL that knows what it takes to bounce back from an 0-2 start it is the Bengals; they got off to the same start last season but still advanced to the AFC Championship Game. But, last season they had a fully healthy Burrow leading their offense. That isn’t the case this year, at least thus far, as the 2023 campaign could quickly spiral for the franchise.