The Cincinnati Bengals were eliminated from playoff contention after Week 18 of the NFL regular season despite quarterback Joe Burrow putting together a career-best campaign.

Burrow, who suffered a season-ending wrist injury in 2023, saw the Bengals miss the playoffs in painstaking fashion last year, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs with their postseason hopes on the line. In 2024, the former No. 1 pick tasted disappointment once again after the Denver Broncos narrowly edged Cincinnati out of the playoff picture on Sunday.

With time running out for Burrow and his young receiving core to deliver results, the Bengals quarterback doesn’t seem at all worried about the future of the franchise.

On the contrary, Burrow deemed the 2024 season one to “remember” and sent a brazen message to the team’s critics in a season-ending post on social media.

“Season to remember, sorry you won’t get to watch anymore. Year 5 in the books,” Burrow wrote in the caption. The first photo in his post was of himself, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins walking onto the field.

Chase left a comment on the post, “MVP LOADING,” and both he and Higgins reposted Burrow on their Instagram Stories.

The trio’s social media activity could appear to be an act of unity amid ongoing rumors over both wide receivers’ futures in Cincinnati.

Higgins and Chase will hit unrestricted free agency in 2025 and 2026 respectively unless they agree to long-term extensions. While Chase, this year’s triple crown champion, will likely be the Bengals’ highest priority in the offseason, Higgins has played himself into a nice payday and could be lured away with a lucrative contract, one richer than Cincinnati can afford to offer.

Burrow has every right to be satisfied with himself after completing an MVP-caliber season with a league-leading 4,918 passing yards and 43 touchdowns. But, in the face of other teams’ playoff successes in recent years, he also surely knows the job’s not finished.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joe Burrow Posts Smug Message After Bengals Miss Playoffs for Second Straight Year.