CINCINNATI -- If you've ever been to an awkward birthday party, then you definitely have a slight idea of how it felt during Joe Burrow's weekly press conference this week. The Bengals franchise quarterback turned 29 on Wednesday, but he was in no mood to celebrate. Some people love when their birthday comes around, but for others, it's just a 24-hour existential crisis where nothing could possibly go right and that seemed to be where Burrow was.

Four years ago at this time, Burrow had just turned 25 and he was two months away from playing in the Super Bowl. Since then, not much has gone right. The Bengals did make a return trip to the AFC title game in 2022, but that was followed by a 2023 season where he missed the final seven games of the year due to injury after tearing a ligament in

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