Joe Burrow flunks first report card of 2023 season

There was a football game played by Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday but it was not a fun football game, at least not for Bengals fans. The Stripes put up just three points and lost 24-3 to the Cleveland Browns.

Burrow did not play well in the loss and put together what could easily be considered the worst performance of his NFL career. He completed just 14 passes for 82 yards and was sacked twice. He looked afraid to throw the ball down the field at times and couldn't get anything going with Tee Higgins, who finished the day with zero receptions off of eight targets.

When it comes to grading Burrow's performance from this weekend, it wasn't hard. He doesn't deserve a passing grade.

Joe Burrow receives an F for Week 1 performance

This wasn't a difficult grade to give out. Burrow is just days removed from signing a deal that made him the highest-paid player in the league but he didn't play like it. As mentioned above, he completed just 14 of 31 passes for 82 yards and didn't score a touchdown. He didn't turn the ball over but that's where the compliments stop for Joey B this week.

By the time the final few minutes of the game came around, the Bengals had benched Burrow for Jake Browning because why risk injury at that point? If you had told Bengals fans that Burrow would be taken out of the game and not because of injury, they'd probably have assumed it was due to blowing out the opposition. Nope.

Simply put -- Joe Burrow has to be better than this. He said after the game that no one on the team is panicking and that there aren't any excuses from them so he knows this isn't acceptable. The Bengals also started slow last year and made it to the AFC title game so there's no reason to stop believing in this group moving forward.

It's Game 1 of a 17-game schedule so there's plenty of time for Burrow and the Bengals to learn from this and be better. Time to throw it in the trash and move on.