>REPORTS:Bengals are fighting through injuries that saw 10 regular contributors end the season on Reserve/Injured..

        Bengals are fighting through injuries that saw 10 regular contributors end the season on Reserve/Injured..

After battling ailments that caused ten regular contributors to conclude the 2023 season on Reserve/Injured, the Bengals finished 4-11-1. The most prominent of the injuries was a knee injury that ended rookie quarterback Joe Burrow’s season after just 10 games. Burrow was the team’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft. Though the NFL did not have an offseason programme to help rookies overcome their learning curve, Taylor was able to guide Burrow to one of the best statistical starts by a quarterback in NFL history. Burrow missed almost half of his tenth game, but his 404 throw attempts rank second in the NFL, and his 264 completions remain the most by any quarterback through their first ten professional games.

Among Cincinnati’s regular defensive starters in 2023, over half did not play for the team in the 2020. The absence of an offseason programme and a slew of injuries to important players made the adjustment even more difficult, but in the second half of the season, Taylor’s Bengals found their rhythm and limited four of their final seven opponents to 20 points or fewer.

In 2020, the Bengals used three different quarterbacks to start and win games: Ryan Finley, Brandon Allen, and Joe Burrow. This season is only the second in Bengals history that as many quarterbacks have reached the victory column; the first was in 1984, when Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason, and Turk Schonert all accomplished the feat.

Washington and San Francisco were the other two teams in 2020 that had victories while using at least three different starting quarterbacks, including Cincinnati.

Bengals rookie quarterbacks starting: In 2020, Joe Burrow became just the 14th rookie quarterback in Bengals history to start a game, and the third to start more than four. The other two players to start more than four games were Andy Dalton in 2011 (9-7 record) and Greg Cook in 1969 (4-6-1 record). As a starter in 2020, Burrow went 2-7-1 before sustaining a season-ending knee injury in Game 10 against Washington on November 22.

Notable Bengal quarterbacks who started as rookies were Boomer Esiason in 1984 (3-1) and Ken Anderson in 1971 (0-4). Carson Palmer, Burrow’s fellow No. 1 overall selection, did not assume the starting position until his second season.