Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is Evolving and Sideline Outburst at Zac Taylor is Proof

CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was frustrated at the end of Sunday’s 37-27 win over the Titans.

“F*** that,” Burrow appeared to say on the sideline. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I was just frustrated in the day we had on offense,” he said after the game. “It was too sloppy. We had too many penalties. Too many procedural penalties. I had too many turnovers. It was just a frustrating day on offense.”

The fact that Burrow was yelling at Taylor on the sideline has led to plenty of questions.

Is the star quarterback unhappy with his head coach? Has Taylor lost the locker room? Does Burrow realize he needs a new coach if they’re going to get back to the Super Bowl?

The answer to all of those questions appears to be no.

If Taylor lost the locker room, would they have won back-to-back road games in December? That’s hard to do in the NFL if you’re a bad team that has a head coach that is no longer commanding the room.

Now, that doesn’t mean Taylor doesn’t deserve blame. It’s on him to get the play call in early enough for Burrow to do his job at the line of scrimmage, regardless of any headset issues. That appeared push Burrow over the edge in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Titans.

“The headset went out a couple times on that same drive and sometimes I’m not sure what he’s getting through there because mine was making a mistake too,” Taylor said. “I should have been aware of it and called a timeout to keep it on the 1-yard line. Sometimes you’re focused on getting the play in and on that one I lost track of the play clock, and he probably did, too.”

Despite the headset issues, I don’t think Burrow’s outburst has as much to do with Taylor as it does the current state of the Bengals.

The Bengals didn’t play well on Sunday. They were called for 15 penalties (14 accepted) and turned the ball over four times.