Joe Burrow said the risk of the Cincinnati Bengals going 0-3 on Monday night outweighed the possibility of the quarterback further injuring his strained right calf.

Eight days after he aggravated the calf, Burrow played every offensive snap as the Bengals defeated the Los Angeles Rams 19-16.

"There is risk to go out there and potentially reinjure it," Burrow said. "But there's also the risk to not go out there and be 0-3. So I wanted to be out there for my guys, and I was confident that I would be able to do what I needed to get the win."

Burrow was 26-of-49 passing for 259 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Afterward, he acknowledged that he and the offense need to be better. 

The quarterback said he went through a workout Monday morning and felt good enough to play. He said the criteria was simply not having any setbacks. Once he practiced Friday and Saturday, he said he felt confident in his ability to compete and voiced that sentiment to team personnel.

Ja'Marr Chase was vocal throughout the week about Burrow not playing if he wasn't completely healthy, and Chase repeated that opinion before the game.

"I was like, 'You got nuts, boy. I didn't want you to play,'" Chase said. "That just shows that Joe's hardheaded. But he's a football player, man. You can't knock him from being tough like that. They don't make too many quarterbacks tough like that."