After winning the AFC North for the second consecutive year, Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals celebrated in the locker room with cigars while donning their AFC North t-shirts and hats.
Burrow spoke to the media shortly after the celebrations kicked off and said that this is now the standard for the franchise. He also added, "We're going to smoke cigars every year."
Joe Burrow on back-to-back AFC titles: “That’s our standard now.”
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) January 8, 2023
“We’re going to smoke cigars every year.” #Bengals @fox19
The Bengals had the worst record in the NFL following the 2019 season (Zac Taylor's first season as the Bengals' head coach) and drafted Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick. He's been the kind of leader this organization has needed for quite some time now and got the stripes to the Super Bowl in his first full season as a starter in 2021.
Joe Burrow tells Bengals fans to get used to winning the division
Teams that have a franchise quarterback are the favorites to win their respective divisions most years (unless a rival also has a franchise signal-caller) and the Bengals are in that category now. Burrow just wrapped up his third season with the team and the Bengals have won two titles during that time.
This season didn't start off great, as the team was 0-2 after two weeks of play. Burrow brought that up during his press conference and mentioned how he told everyone to relax. Since then, the team has lost just two games and is primed for another run to the Super Bowl.
If they get back to the big game, Joe Burrow is going to be a huge reason why.