The Super Bowl LVI loss perhaps doesn’t sting for Joe Burrow as much as three straight years without a playoff berth does. With each year of watching January football from the couch, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback has grown increasingly frustrated and hungry. But things unraveled after the joint practice with the Chicago Bears last week. While Burrow said he’s excited for the regular season to begin, he also gave a title run ultimatum to Cincy.

“I’m trying to put it out into the world. I’m trying to manifest it,” Burrow said with a noticeable edge in his voice. “I’m trying to show our guys the urgency that I have and that I want us to have as an organization, to go make it happen. You can keep pushing it down the road, or you can talk about it now and say this is the year. And I’m tired of saying next year, next year, next year. This is it. Your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road, and I’m trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and be great every day and try to go make it happen.”

But when this quote landed on the Deebo and Joe podcast, the former Pittsburgh Steelers stars ripped Cincy’s O-line for failing to protect Joe Burrow and linked him to their old team to make Burrow’s dream of winning the Super Bowl come true.

“First preseason game, he’s standing back there getting hit upside the head again,” Joe Haden said on the podcast. “I’m like, ‘Oh, y’all not protecting him in the preseason. So, he’s not playing. He’s an amazing franchise quarterback. He got them weapons out there. He knows their offense is doing what they got to do. But he’s like end of the day I’m trying to win something. So, Mike McCarthy, our offense start looking good. A-Rod sliding after this year.”

Hayden pointed to the Steelers under the new leadership of head coach Mike McCarthy as the catalyst that could unlock Burrow’s potential and get him to the playoffs again. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has already said this is his last NFL season, and Pittsburgh will need to search for a franchise quarterback, making it a potential landing spot if Burrow’s had enough of Cincy flaming out. Co-host James “Deebo” Harrison, meanwhile, took a sharper dig at the Bengals and drove home the Steelers as a destination.

“Y’all ain’t protecting him,” Harrison said. “That’s the crazy part. You went over there, you spent some money on defense, a couple of defensive pieces, but you ain’t do nothing to stop them from Joe. Joe been out here getting hurt cause y’all can’t protect him. That man, he getting to midway through the season and they start slapping him [on] his head. He done gave y’all a warning. I’m sorry to have to tell you this Bengals fans, he done gave y’all a warning. He done put it out there. Now, don’t y’all be surprised when this season get over with and come offseason, he’s sitting over here in that black and gold.”

Now, the Bengals’ O-line’s inadequacy was on full display even during joint practice with the Bears. Burrow faced constant pressure on his snaps. At one point, he even got into an altercation with Bears’ defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, when the latter grabbed Joe by his jersey, refusing to let it go. While Burrow later joked about missing being in fights, it was his No. 1 target, Ja’Marr Chase, who sounded off on the O-line from the locker room.

“I don’t care what we do,” Chase said, “we just better f– protect Joe.”

Since coming to the NFL from LSU, Burrow has absorbed 213 painful sacks across six seasons, losing north of 1,400 yards in the process. This constant pressure and punishment have caused multiple injuries and underlying concerns about durability. His rookie season ended in Week 11 with significant damage to his left knee (PCL, MCL, and meniscus). He also missed seven games in 2023 with a wrist injury.

Then came the turf toe injury in Week 2 last season, which caused him to miss 9 games. Even that injury came after he took a sack in the second quarter. The Bengals’ O-line has proven itself structurally unable to protect their quarterback – they even allowed 9 sacks on Joe Flacco, and another 9 on Jake Browning before that.

James Harrison and Joe Haden, meanwhile, vouch that the Steelers would never allow so many hits on their quarterback – they wouldn’t even put him in a joint practice, allowing him to understand reads and the game plan without any risk of injury.

Joe Burrow wants a Super Bowl ring. He has wanted one ever since the Los Angeles Rams took it away from him in Super Bowl LVI (Burrow took seven sacks in that game alone). But until his offensive line steps up to protect him, who knows, maybe a new team would be the best thing for his manifestation after all.