The Cincinnati Bengals put together one of the better second-half performances you'll ever see in Week 7 to thoroughly crush the AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens 35-13 at M&T Bank Stadium. How sweet to silence the crowd like that. And it's largely thanks to Joe Burrow.
Refusing to let his poise be shaken by a scoreless first half, Burrow took the ball after halftime, and promptly orchestrated five touchdown drives in a row. Talk about responding to adversity.
It's these types of scintillating spurts that get you into the MVP conversation. And of course winning games helps. Now that Burrow has a competent defense backing him, this is what it looks like.
JOE BURROW OUT OF HIS MIND in the second half pic.twitter.com/O0je5REBhV
— PFF (@PFF) October 25, 2026
So is Joe Burrow squarely in the MVP mix? Uh yeah I'd say so.
Burrow gets a bump in MVP odds after monster second half vs. Ravens
Here's where DraftKings' NFL MVP odds stood in the aftermath of the Bnegals' victory and Burrow's commanding four-TD performance. By the way, that put him at 15 TD passes on the year for the league lead at the time, no big deal! OK the odds though:
- Josh Allen +170
- Brock Purdy +340
- Joe Burrow +500
We'll take third place right now! That's especially so when you consider the 49ers just lost their first game to the Falcons, who also happen to be Cincinnati's Madrid opponent.
If anything, that surprise Atlanta win (surprising to some, not me, but to some) gives Burrow a chance to further bolster his candidacy against a perceptibly stronger opponent on the grand international stage.
Madrid is where things could really go Burrow's way. Assuming he takes care of business with at least two, hopefully three TDs at home in Week 8 against the lowly Titans — who look better of late, to be fair — he should be right there with Allen in the MVP running at the dawn of Week 9.
MVP is such a narrative-driven award. It helps that Burrow hasn't been to the playoffs since the 2022 season, has had two brutal injuries in the ensuing time, and played like an MVP in 2024 only to see the defense let him down. The media loves a first-time winner.
There's a certain "new blood" angle to Burrow as MVP even though he's been around a while. And like...my lord is he good at football, ya know?
Joe Burrow went 16/18 for 249 yards and 4 touchdowns in the 2nd half against the Ravens
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) October 25, 2026
Burrow's 21.24 Total EPA in the 2nd half is the 4th best 2nd half performance out of 2,204 qualifiers since 2022, per @SumerSports
Regarding the top two candidates ahead of him: Purdy is not only coming off a loss, but we all know tailback Christian McCaffrey is the catalyst of that 49ers offense. It ain't Brock.
Purdy is great. Don't get me wrong. I think he's grossly underrated. That said, he's no Joe Burrow, and if you gave Burrow CMC, I can't even imagine the results. Would not be fair. Hence why I want Cincinnati to trade for Jonathan Taylor so badly!
The fact that Allen has won MVP honors before works in Burrow's favor to some degree. It's just hard to deny that Allen is the best player on the planet because of how seemingly indestructible he is, and how he's much more of a dual-threat playmaker than Joe Brrr.
That's for the voters to wrestle with, though. Much of the MVP award is also about exposure and timing. These elements are working in Joe's favor, too.
Think about it. The Bengals will be heavy favorites against Tennessee. Then comes the Madrid showcase. Once Burrow returns stateside, he'll get Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football in consecutive games.
I'd say it's looking good for Joey Franchise to bring home the hardware right about now.
Mood.#CINatBAL on CBS/Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/qRIaud9yuT
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 25, 2026
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