Joe Burrow defied all the odds to guide the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl.
And whilst they came up just short with a 23-20 defeat to the Los Angeles Rams, Burrow’s immediate response to the defeat spells bad news for his rivals.
The young quarterback emerged as a star in his second season in the NFL - but has now warned he and the Bengals will get even better.
After failing to get their hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy, Burrow admitted he was “disappointed” by his personal performance, which saw him hurt his knee in the second half.
But he says the defeat will “propel” his side into next season as they look to establish themselves as one of the NFL’s teams to beat rather than a one-off contender.
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“I was disappointed in my performance overall,” Burrow said in his post-game press conference. “I thought I could’ve played better, given us a better chance to win, but you live and you learn.
“I think it’s going to propel us into next season. We’re going to have a really good off-season.
“I know we have a lot of hard workers in that locker room that are going to attack the off-season like they did last year.
“Obviously we’re not satisfied with what we did this year, we’re going to keep getting better and attack next year with the same intensity.”
“We just have to let it fuel us,” he added.
Burrow shared a moment with rival quarterback Matthew Stafford immediately after the game came to an end.
Stafford and Burrow embraced before Stafford went to celebrate - and the victorious Rams quarterback hailed his team-mates after victory.
"I am so proud of this team," Stafford said. "There are so many guys that deserve this, so many guys who have given their hearts and souls to this team.
"I just thank for coach [McVay] for saying you and Cooper Kupp go and get this thing done and calling plays for him.
"Kept finding ways to get him the ball, and he kept making unbelievable plays, that is what he does."
