The Cincinnati Bengals are 3-6 entering their Week 10 bye, and have been without Joe Burrow for a whole half-season at this point. At least for one day on Halloween, Joe Brr got to express his dismay in an exotic sort of way.
You love to see the Bengals' face of the franchise having a little fun. Once he suffered that severe turf toe injury in Week 2, the Andrew Luck comparisons were deservedly on. Burrow could still come back next month, but Cincinnati may be out of the playoff race by then.
While he spectates from the sidelines and watches Joe Flacco go nuclear, only to be let down by the defense — sound familiar? — Burrow deserves to blow off some steam. Did he ever on Halloween!
Bengals QB Joe Burrow channels Heath Ledger Joker energy with DIY Halloween costume
Joe Burrow is nothing if not a perfectionist when it comes to football, but he let his freak flag fly on Halloween a bit with a costume of the iconic Batman villain, The Joker. Burrow was paying tribute to the late, great Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning turn in the role in Christopher Nolan's classic, The Dark Knight.
Ledger famously did his own makeup as well to give his Joker a distinctive, grungier look than previous iterations of the character. Burrow made sure to note that he took the time to get that paint on. Just an absolutely killer job by Burrow here. He's become something of a fashion icon in recent years, and to crush that Dark Knight Joker look is a whole other skill set that he nailed.
Kind of fitting that a gridiron competitor like Burrow would gravitate toward the "war paint" aesthetic of Ledger's Clown Prince of Crime. It's also kind of funny in a meta way, because Burrow could easily be forgiven for going full JOKER mode. You know, descend into anarchy. Become an agent of chaos, to quote that Joker directly.
In all seriousness — why so serious!? — OK I'm not being serious about this. Am I having a conversation with myself? What is happening right now?
I swear I'm not padding the word count. Just trying to make y'all laugh. Because Who Dey Nation could use a good laugh. Seeing Burrow happy on Halloween makes me happy. The Bengals' defense and de facto GM Duke Tobin's inability to acquire passable talent on that side of the ball don't make me happy.
The Cincinnati Bengals now have the second-worst defense through 9 games by DVOA, since 1978. Only the 1979 49ers were worse.
— Aaron Schatz 🏈 (@ASchatzNFL) November 3, 2025
Part of the issue: the Bengals have actually played one of the easiest schedules of opposing offenses. pic.twitter.com/vcKteBd4dA
Ledger's Joker was fully formed by the beginning of Nolan's film, whereas Joaquin Phoenix's titular societal reject in Joker got a full-blown origin story before his descent into madness.
The Bengals' season is nevertheless feeling like one big joke. The punchlines of a historically atrocious defense and another major Burrow injury aren't funny. And they inspire the type of nihilistic worldview of Ledger's Joker.
So how apropos! Not a depressing note to go through the bye week on at all!