Joe Burrow gives blunt assessment of Bengals after 1-4 start

Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow turned in one of his best performances against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5, as he tossed five touchdowns in a single game for the first time in his career.

Unfortunately, Burrow's passing production wasn't enough for Cincinnati to secure its second win of the season, as Baltimore was ultimately able to pull out a 41-38 victory in overtime. The Bengals fell to 1-4 on the season with the loss, while the Ravens improved to 3-2 with the win. They've now won three straight games.

Joe Burrow keeps it real about Cincinnati's championship outlook

After the game, Burrow was understandably upset, and he provided a blunt assessment about the current state of the Bengals after five weeks of action.

"We're not a championship-level team right now," Burrow said. "We're not, I like to think that we'll come back and improve throughout the season to get to that point, but right now, we are not, and we have to get better."

The fact that the Bengals aren't a championship-level team isn't a secret to anyone who has watched them so far this season. They lost the season opener to an inferior New England Patriots team that has lost four straight since. Back-to-back losses to the Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders followed before the Bengals got their first win of the season against the Carolina Panthers last weekend.

The Bengals had opportunities to come out with a win over the Ravens, but they just couldn't make the necessary plays to close it out. That has become a theme for Cincinnati this season.

"I know exactly how we're 1-4. We're not making enough plays to finish games," Burrow said.

You can't blame Burrow for being unhappy. He's been playing some excellent football, especially over the past few weeks, and he would likely be in the MVP conversation if the Bengals were performing better as a team.

Technically, it's not too late for the Bengals to turn things around, but they really need to start winning some games. They don't have a bye until Week 12, which means that have six more games before they get a chance to brieflty hit the reset button.

Over that next month and a half, the Bengals will play the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas Raiders, the Ravens again, and the Los Angeles Chargers. That stretch will basically make or break their season. Obviously a 6-0 stretch would be ideal, but if they can even manage to go 5-1 or 4-2 in those games, perhaps they'll be able to keep their playoff hopes alive.