Joe Burrow said Wednesday he is closing in on the Bengals’ franchise touchdown record and wants to break it this season, putting a familiar milestone within reach as Cincinnati opens its 2026 campaign. The quarterback said it would be nice to do it this year and called it doable.
Burrow said he is about 50 touchdowns away from the mark, a figure that points directly to Andy Dalton’s club record of 204. Burrow has 157 touchdown passes in 77 games, and his career high remains 43 scores from his 2024 season. He also owns a 68.5 completion percentage, one reason he is part of a small class with Drew Brees as the only two players to post multiple percent passing seasons.
Burrow’s first news conference of the season came with the Bengals trying to build on the precision that has defined parts of his recent play while getting back to the kind of vertical offense that made them dangerous earlier in his tenure. He said Cincinnati has been strong on third down and in the red zone, but the bigger goal is to rediscover the explosive attack it showed in 2021 and 2022.
That was the period when Burrow produced 15 passes of at least 40 yards in 2021 and 10 more the next season, forcing defenses to defend every blade of grass. In 2024, he threw 43 touchdown passes, his best season so far, and Ja’Marr Chase caught eight of his 40-yard throws. Burrow said teams have started to adjust again, pressing more and leaning into man coverage, which means the Bengals need to answer by burning them deep and becoming more explosive.
Ken Anderson, whose 204 touchdown passes remain the Bengals standard, said Burrow can get there. “Heck yeah,” Anderson said of the chase. “The way the passing game is nowadays and he’s showed he’s put up those numbers before,” and added, “So I’ve got all the confidence in the world he can do it.”
The chase matters because it comes at a time when Burrow says this is the best roster of his seven seasons in Cincinnati. He also made clear that the quarterback room is set again, with Joe Flacco back as his backup after serving in that role last season. Burrow said he was surprised nobody wanted Flacco after last year and said having him behind him gives the team a strong option.
“I love being around Joe and watching him play,” Burrow said. “To have somebody behind me who can step in and play the way he did last year, I think will put our team in a good position.”
Burrow also singled out Dexter Lawrence II, calling him the best defensive tackle in the league and describing him as bigger and stronger than everybody. Burrow said Lawrence’s work and mindset stand out, and that watching a player with that kind of drive should be exciting.
For Cincinnati, the equation is plain enough: a quarterback already stacked among the league’s most accurate passers, a roster he believes is his best yet, and a passing game that still wants to stretch the field. If Burrow stays healthy and the offense rediscovers its deep-ball edge, the franchise record may not last long.
