It only took 2 games for Vontaze Burfict to get in trouble again with the NFL

Burfict’s conduct is being reviewed after Sunday’s loss to the Steelers

Vontaze Burfict is no stranger to NFL discipline. The Pro Bowl linebacker has racked up more than $4 million in disciplinary fines and forfeited salary over the course of a seven-year career.

And, just two games into his 2018 season, that number could be going up.

The NFL is looking into Burfict’s play in the Bengals’ 28-21 loss to the Steelers, particularly one play where he appeared to deliver a targeted elbow to receiver Antonio Brown’s head at the tail end of a crossing route.

Adam Schefter reports two other tackles where Burfict led with his helmet are also being reviewed.

According to Steelers players, Burfict also made a vocal effort to single out the players he wanted to light up all afternoon.

“He hits (Brown), then, literally, as I am under center for the next play, he points at JuJu [Smith-Schuster] and says, ‘You’re next,’” Ben Roethlisberger told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. “How do you allow that stuff?”

“They were all making threats on me,” Smith-Schuster said after the game. “Burfict was out there lying, saying I spit on him, which I didn’t ... This was the most physical game I’ve been in. Their defense was coming after all of us. You could just see it with the talking, the pushing and shoving, the tackling, the extra stuff.”

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport says Burfict isn’t expected to be suspended by league officials, but could face a hefty fine for his actions.

Burfict refused to address the media after the game and head coach Marvin Lewis denied knowing which play reporters were referring to when asked about the potentially-illegal hit.

Of course this happened against the Steelers

Few rivalries engender the kind of hate Burfict harbors against his AFC North rival. If the league decides to discipline him, it will mark the fourth time his actions in a game against Pittsburgh have led to a five-figure fine.

None of those incidents were more famous — or more costly — than his playoff headhunting of Brown. The Steelers trailed the Bengals 16-15 in the final minutes of a 2016 Wild Card showdown in Cincinnati when Burfict nearly decapitated Pittsburgh’s star wideout.

The ensuing penalty helped push Pittsburgh into field goal range, where Chris Boswell would kick a game-winning field goal shortly thereafter.

The Steeles got some revenge last season, however — with a brutal 2017 block that put Smith-Schuster on Burfict’s bad side:

That play would earn Smith-Schuster a one-game suspension and sideline Burfict for two games with a head injury. Week 6’s showdown in Cincinnati marked the first time the two teams had met since then.

Burfict had already forfeited more than $1.8 million in lost salary this season after drawing a four-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy during the offseason. Another scolding from the league would give him a realistic shot at losing more than $2 million to the league’s favorite charities in 2018.