Chicago Bears defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo ruffled a few feathers when he made contact with star quarterback Joe Burrow during his joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals on August 20, but Burrow isn't sweating a small fight.
According to CLNS Media's Mike Petraglia, tempers flared at the first Bears-Bengals joint practice on Thursday when Odeyingbo held onto Burrow's shoulder pad at the end of a play and provoked a fiery reaction from the star quarterback that caused a scuffle.
"Joe Burrow was involved in a brief spat with the Bears when [his] shoulder pad was grabbed by Bears DL Dayo Odeyingbo," Petraglia wrote on X. "Burrow yelled and shoved, but it was quickly broken up. On the play, Burrow threw into traffic over the middle, ball tipped off Mike Gesicki's hands and was picked by [Dillon Thieneman.]
After practice, though, Burrow summed up the altercation bluntly.
"S*** happens, you know? S*** happens," Burrow told reporters Thursday. "That's how practice goes sometimes."
Burrow may have let the brief fight with the Bears roll off his shoulders without much concern, but his superstar wide receiver, Ja'Marr Chase, was a little more emphatic.
"I don't care what we do, we just better f***ing protect Joe," Chase said after practice .
Chase has good reason — as should every Bengal — to prioritize protecting Burrow and to work to limit the number of hits that opposing teams put on their star quarterback. Burrow has suffered multiple season-ending injuries over his first five years in the NFL , including a severe knee injury in 2020 and a surgery-requiring wrist injury in 2023.
Burrow also sustained a Grade 3 turf toe injury in Week 2 of the 2025 season, forcing him to undergo surgery and to miss nine games. The Bengals went 1-8 without him.
Burrow is also trying to instill more urgency in his Bengals teammates ahead of the 2026 season. The Bengals have Burrow under contract through 2029, but he is no longer content to put his championship aspirations on hold and focus on the future.
"You can keep pushing it down the road, or you can talk about it and say, 'This is the year,'" Burrow said . "I'm tired of saying next year, next year, next year. This is it. Life is too short to keep pushing things down the road. I'm trying to instill some urgency and some intensity in everybody to go and be great every day and try to make it happen."
Odeyingbo — who was at the center of Thursday's joint practice fight for the Bears — is also heading into the 2026 season with a great deal of urgency regarding his future.
Odeyingbo disappointed in his first season with the Bears in 2025 after signing a three-year, $48 million contract in free agency. He recorded just one sack in his first seven games before tearing his right Achilles tendon in his eighth game and landing on IR.
Now, the 26-year-old defensive lineman is trying to bounce back in hopes that he can become the piece that turns things around for the Bears' below-average pass-rushing unit in 2026. The Bears have worked him at edge rusher and defensive tackle during camp, suggesting Dennis Allen could deploy him in a variety of ways again this year.
Whether Odeyingbo will pull off his comeback is another question, though.
He seemed to struggle in his first live game reps since early last November when he played 12 snaps against the Cleveland Browns in the Bears' 28-9 preseason victory. While he assisted D'Marco Jackson on a single stop, he also appeared to still have some issues with trusting his now-healed Achilles, limiting his pass-rush moves severely.
The Bears don't have many options but to find a role for Odeyingbo in 2026. But if he fails to deliver again, expect them to cut bait for $15 million in savings next offseason.
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