‘I Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way’ – Bengals’ Sam Hubbard on Why Playing Sunday Is So Important to Him

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals have had one of thinnest injury reports in the league the last few weeks, but with the playoffs out of reach, there could be a number of players sitting out Sunday’s season finale against the Cleveland Browns.

Defensive end Sam Hubbard will not be one of them.

“Oh, I’m playing,” Hubbard said Monday while still feeling the physical and emotional toll of Sunday’s 25-17 loss at Kansas City.

“I don’t think twice about it,” Hubbard added. “I came this far; I’m playing. I’m finishing this year strong. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I wouldn’t leave my guys hanging. I love being out there. And I told them I’d today, I’m gonna be out there with them.”

Bengals’ Sam Hubbard Details Importance of Fighting to the End

Every year there are players and teams facing this dilemma, but it hits a little harder for a Bengals team that was a preseason Super Bowl favorite and fought through a pair of injuries to quarterback Joe Burrow to come close to making a third consecutive playoff appearance that would’ve been the second-longest streak in franchise history.

There initially may have been a sense that Week 18 could be a pride game after Burrow went down with the season-ending wrist injury in Week 11, but the play of backup Jake Browning and a three-game winning streak rekindled hope before the Steelers and Chiefs snuffed it.

“Obviously we expected to be here playing for seeding, playing for the playoffs, but that’s not how it worked out. And it’s unfortunate,” Hubbard said. “We put in the work. We fought hard for a long season, and we came up short. But we’ve still got one more game left to finish with a winning season. And that’s important to us and to the fans. So we’re going to go out there and fight hard.”

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While posting a winning record and making the AFC North the first division to have every team finish above .500 since the 1935 NFL West are motivating factors, perhaps the biggest driving factor is avoiding an 0-6 record in the division.

It was clear it was a sore spot leading into the Week 16 matchup at Pittsburgh when the Bengals were 0-4, and it was discussed at length by players in the locker room immediately after the 34-11 loss dropped them to 0-5.

To avoid 0-6, the Bengals need to beat a Browns team that is locked into its playoff seed and likely will be resting most of its starters, if not all of them.

“That’s huge for us,” Hubbard said of avoiding the winless mark in the division. “It’s a great opportunity to finish the season on a high note. I know we finished in 2019 with a home win against the Browns, and we went 2-14 that year. That was really good momentum going in the offseason.”

Since that 33-23 win in the 2019 finale to send the fans home happy, the Bengals have lost six of seven against the Browns despite fielding two of their better teams in franchise history.

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That’s been a sore spot as well.

But Hubbard said more than anything else, it’s about who he is playing with and not against.

“Everyone knows now that there’s no playoffs this last week together, so we’re going to enjoy each other, enjoy the locker room, and the time we have because no matter what, things are going to change next year,” he said. “Every year, it’s a totally different team. That’s just how it goes. So, I think guys understand that. They’re going to take this time to enjoy each other and work hard together.”

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