The Cincinnati Bengals go into Week 9 sitting at 5-2 after they produced a sublime comeback victory against a tricky Tennessee Titans team last weekend. The Bengals yet again found themselves down 13-0, but ended up winning in overtime 43-36.
Joe Burrow was the standout performer yet again over the weekend. Yes, he threw three interceptions, but he also threw 38/48 for 462 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for the game winning touchdown in overtime.
According to PFF, Burrow is currently the third-favourite to win the MVP behind Bills quarterback Josh Allen and San Francisco 49ers' Brock Purdy. The oddsmakers need to rethink their rankings, and here are five reasons why...
1. He's leading the NFL in passing numbers
Burrow is currently ranked number one in passing yards per game with 302.1, over 20 yards more than second-place Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers (280.8). He's also miles ahead of Purdy and Allen, who are at 249.7 and 256.1 yards per game respectively.
The Cincy quarterback also leads the NFL in touchdown passes with 20, beating Kirk Cousins in second on 19. Purdy has 15, and Allen has 11, so he is yet again, miles ahead of his MVP rivals.
2. He's been the most accurate passer in the NFL too
Furthermore, Burrow leads the NFL in completion percentage among quarterbacks with more than three games played, connecting on 73% of his attempts, yet again trouncing Allen (65.9%) and Purdy (69.2%).
In fact, there are only two quarterbacks who have a better percentage than Burrow: one of them is Gardner Minshew (73.9%), who has played just one game, and Jaxson Dart, who has played just twice.
3. Burrow is carrying the Bengals' offense
One of the biggest reasons why he should be the favourite is that, the offense is one-dimensional, which isn't great from a Bengals point of view, but for Burrow's personal accolades, it only makes him look stronger.
Most MVP quarterbacks have a strong running game to back them up, which makes life a lot easier when playing against defenses that are preparing for the run and the pass. The Bengals have the third-lowest rushing yards per game in the NFL with 80.3. Compare that to the 49ers at 127.4, and the *Bills at 148.4.
*Yes, I understand that much of these rushing yards are down to Allen using his legs, but the Bills' running game outside of Allen is much better than Cincy's.
4. He's shown that he can be clutch this season
Earlier in the season, there was a lot of talk amongst NFL media, saying that Burrow wasn't clutch at the right times, which we all know as Bengals fans is a load of [insert what word you fancy here].
Point number one: against the Titans, Burrow led them to a touchdown (which he carried into the end zone himself), on a game-winning drive. Number two: Against the Ravens in Week 7, he ran an offense that put up 35 points in the second half when they were 13 points down at halftime. Sure sounds like clutch quarterback play to me.
5. The Bengals should make the playoffs
I have no idea why we aren't talking about Burrow as a former MVP, because he should've won the award in 2024. He threw for over 4900 yards, 42 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. Compare that to Josh Allen (3731 yards, 28 touchdowns, six interceptions), and it makes you wonder why Allen won the award.
However, the Bills had a record of 13-4, and were the two seed in the AFC. The Bengals had a record of 9-8 and missed the playoffs. Sure, this wasn't Burrow's fault, but it does feel like that is why he didn't win the award in 2024.
Back to the present day - The Bengals are 5-2 and look a really good contender to win the AFC North, with the Ravens having lost Lamar Jackson to injury. Even if they don't, the playoffs feel more of a certainty this year, and that should surely be enough to get Burrow his first MVP award.
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