The calendar still says September, yet the Cincinnati Bengals have found themselves (and their Super Bowl aspirations) officially on life-support following a third consecutive loss to open up the year.

After an embarrassing 38-33 defeat at the hands of a recording-setting night by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders, Joe Burrow and head coach Zac Taylor met privately following the immediate aftermath of the loss.

The Bengals have opened the season with three consecutive losses

Instead of the usual walk back to the locker room, cameras picked up Burrow and Taylor heading towards the coach’s office to meet briefly in private.

Not even a quarter into the season, the Bengals have already reached the ‘meeting behind closed doors following an embarrassing loss’ stage.

That’s not a place you want to be, certainly not before October, but that’s what 0-3 will get you.

A team as talented (or thought to be) as the Bengals, with sky-high expectations, 0-3 is nothing short of a disaster.

The head coach and quarterback are now meeting in private to discuss how to navigate the tumultuous start and the message they want to get across to the rest of the team.

Luckily for Cincinnati, if there was ever a guy to stare down 0-3 in the face and not blink, it’s Burrow.

He said as much at his postgame press conference, while alluding to his meeting with Taylor.

“It was a very positive conversation,” Burrow said. “We’re not happy with where we’re at, but by no means is the season over.

“We’re 0-3, there’s 14 left to play. We just have to continue to get better and see where the cards fall in the next ten weeks, whenever the bye is.”

When asked whose idea it was to meet right after they had come off the field, Burrow said it was ‘mutual.’

LSU Heisman winning quarterbacks went blow for blow on Monday night, with the rookie Daniels coming out on top over BurrowGetty

And now Burrow and the Bengals are faced to claw their way out of the 0-3 hole they put themselves in.

A hole that history says won’t be easy to climb out of.

A hole that history says is almost virtually impossible to climb out of.

Since 1990, there have been a total of 162 teams to begin the season 0-3. Only four managed to make the postseason. That is a whopping 2.5 percent.

In other words, it has suddenly got extremely late, extremely fast for the Bengals. The sun is very low.

However, Burrow being who he is, remains confident he and his team will be able to right the ship, get better and ‘see where the cards fall…’

He better hope the cards don’t fall in favor of the franchise’s favorite red-headed step child, in old friend Andy Dalton this Sunday.

Fall to 0-4 against Dalton and the Carolina Panthers, and the Bengals can start packing their bags to Cancún.

Only one team in NFL history has made the playoffs after starting 0-4, and that was the 1992 San Diego Chargers.

The Bengals have all but buried themselves with another slow start to the season, but who knows, maybe this private meeting between Burrow and Taylor is exactly what the doctor ordered.

After all, life-support isn’t quite dead, just yet.