The 2023 NFL campaign was a nightmare for Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

Burrow began the season dealing with a calf issue, which severely limited him over the first several weeks. Then, just as he was beginning to get into a groove midway through the year, Burrow injured his wrist, knocking him out for the remainder of the season.

He underwent surgery to repair the injury.

Burrow is looking forward to a stronger, healthier year in 2024, and he thinks the Bengals have what it takes to make a run as long as everyone does their job properly.

“We know we have the right people in place to reach our goals,” Burrow said, via Geoff Hobson of the Bengals’ official team website. “It’s just about putting all those pieces together and finding our roles to optimize what we can do.”

The 27-year-old also feels that consistency is a big problem for Cincinnati.

“We have to be more consistent than we were last year. Part of that was the injury to me,” Burrow said. “I think we just need to take that next step as an offense. Be more consistent series-to-series. We’ve been pretty good game-to-game, but I think if we really want to be one of those top one to three offenses in the league, we have to be more consistent.”

Even with Burrow sidelined for half the season, the Bengals managed to go 9-8 and just missed the playoffs, so clearly, this is still a team to be reckoned with in the AFC.

Cincinnati is also just three seasons removed from making it all the way to the Super Bowl, so the Bengals have already proven they belong.

Of course, it doesn’t help that Cincy plays in arguably the toughest division in football, as all four AFC North teams finished over .500 this past year.

Still, as long as Joe Burrow is healthy, there is no reason why the Bengals can’t make it back to the playoffs next season.

Want the latest NFL analysis, breaking news, and insider information? Click here. Interested in reading storylines and analysis about the NBA? Check out our partner NBA Analysis Network.