So much of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's legacy is defined by injuries. Two of his last three seasons were cut roughly in half by various major ailments.
However, sandwiched between that stretch of time and a shredded knee he suffered as an NFL rookie, Burrow guided the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI and an AFC Championship Game the next year. I want to say "carried", but also don't want to discredit Cincinnati's formerly-solid defense.
Despite his solid bottom-line numbers in what many believe is the biggest mismatch in the trenches in Super Bowl history, a certain QB guru had the gall to call Joe Shiesty's Super Bowl performance one of the worst of the last quarter-century.
'The Ringer' ranks Joe Burrow 33rd among 50 Super Bowl QBs of the last 25 years
Alright. I mean look, you gotta do what you gotta do for the content. And the engagement. I get it. This sports media landscape is fickle, weird, and what have you.
Case in point: I'm responding to an article by The Ringer's Steven Ruiz that I know is rage bait-y in nature. Let me paste the relevant text from Ruiz's write-up before I dissect the general existence of his piece, and my role in giving it any attention at all.
"Burrow’s first Super Bowl experience was one to forget. Outside of two deep passes to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins—which went for 46 and 75 yards, respectively—he threw for just 142 yards on 31 attempts, or 4.6 yards per. And that doesn’t account for the 43 yards lost on seven sacks. Burrow was under siege for most of the game, facing pressure on 43.9 percent of his dropbacks. Only five quarterbacks have faced a higher pressure rate in a Super Bowl since 2000, per TruMedia. [...] Burrow didn’t have much of a chance on the game-deciding play—or most of his pressured dropbacks, for that matter—but he also missed a few key chances he did have. A misread on a fourth-and-short ended a promising opening drive near midfield. And Burrow also skipped a throw to an open Chase beyond the first-down marker on third-and-13, halting a late third-quarter drive."
Am I actually enraged over what Ruiz wrote in real life? No. Is it nevertheless a tad annoying that it's tailor-made to incite a polarized reaction, and isn't presented in good faith? Sure.
Should I act as if I'm above engaging in a distant dialogue that will never even cross Ruiz's desk? Nah. Doesn't really matter. What matters is healthy debate, even if the original premise isn't sincere.
I'm just saying. If you Google "Steven Ruiz rage bait", you will find plenty of material on the Reddit boards. But like, at the same time, Bill Simmons was my OG sportswriting hero. I even met him once in Los Angeles. Great guy from my little interaction. I've applied to The Ringer before. You can't get to the seat that Ruiz is in without busting your buns every night, to paraphrase the GOAT pilot in all of cinema, Roger Murdock.
OK I think we've gotten enough qualifiers out of the way. Time to give Joey B. some protection that the Bengals took until *checks notes* the end of his sixth NFL season to provide.
Joe Burrow keeping the Bengals even remotely close in Super Bowl LVI was a miraculous achievement
If you'd like to read more about how, in another universe, I took Duke Tobin's job, and gamed up a way for the Bengals to draft Ja'Marr Chase, Penei Sewell and Kyle Pitts in the same year to deliver Cincinnati its first Lombardi Trophy, that's all right here.
Since that didn't actually happen, the Bengals were hopelessly outgunned in Super Bowl LVI versus the Rams.
Let me walk you through what was happening on the line of scrimmage alone. By that I mean, the practice squad-caliber Bengals offensive line that was trying to block an Aaron Donald-led Rams d-line:
Cincinnati's big boys from left to right were Jonah Williams, Quinton Spain, Trey Hopkins, Hakeem Adeniji, and Isaiah Prince. The stable of pass rushers getting after that starting five were Donald, Von Miller, and Leonard Floyd.
Donald and Floyd had career-high combined tackle totals during the 2021 season. Still in peak form. Miller came over in an in-season trade. Dynamic as he was, he had nine sacks in the regular season, trailing Floyd's 9.5 and Donald's 12.5.
Jonah Williams was a decent left tackle. Not great for being the 11th overall pick, but at least somewhat passable. Since leaving Cincinnati for Arizona, he hasn't played a snap there, transitioning to right tackle instead.
Wanna know how good the rest of Burrow's line was for that Super Bowl? Check this out.
Joe Burrow took this to the Super Bowl😭 https://t.co/YgDPQLb6xK pic.twitter.com/gKuozjpmp9
— 🎟️ (@PlutoCooked) January 12, 2026
Furthermore, Quinton Spain did not play a single NFL down after that game. He had turned 30 that August. Not like he was super old. Trey Hopkins also never played another down in the NFL. The 29-year-old man snapping the ball to Joe Burrow in that Super Bowl. Career over.
Isaiah Prince has played for the Arlington Renegades and bounced to the Titans and 49ers practice squads over the last two years. Appeared in three total NFL games since Super Bowl LVI, starting zero.
As for Hakeem Adeniji, well, he's at least on a roster. He even started a game for the Cowboys this year! That's about it.
PFF pass blocking grades (perfect score is 100; near-impossible to score as high as 90) for the Bengals' SBLVI o-line were as follows:
- Jonah Williams — 41.4 (would rank third-to-last in 2025 among all tackles)
- Quinton Spain — 20.3
- Trey Hopkins — 50.9 (would rank second-to-last in 2025)
- Hakeem Adeniji — 26.0
- Isaiah Prince — 2.4
Another thing that supports this data point: The fastest average time to throw among qualifying QBs during the 2025 campaign was 2.56 seconds by Houston Texans backup Davis Mills when he was thrust into duty. In Super Bowl LVI, Burrow's average time to throw was 2.39 seconds.
Count aloud. One-one thousand. Two-one thousand. Faster than you can then say, "BOOM!" is roughly how much time Burrow had before Donald was liable to fold his body like a lawn chair.
Gee, I wonder why *mimes Steven Ruiz picking his nose while grinding the all-22* Joe Burrow's Expected Points Added per dropback and "success rate" of 34.1% ranked 39th and 47th among the last 50 Super Bowl QBs!
How many "added points" can any reasonable quarterback "expect" to provide when he's sacked seven times with pressure arriving that quickly? Behind that offensive line, which also yielded nine sacks in the Divisional Round in a road win over the AFC's No. 1-seeded Titans.
The Bengals only lost that Super Bowl 23-20. Three points.
Burrow finished 22-for-33 for 263 yards, a TD and a 100.9 passer rating under those conditions. If not for a quick pressure from Donald on Cincinnati's final play from scrimmage, he would've launched the most epic TD pass in NFL history to Chase, too.
Ja’Marr Chase already was behind Jalen Ramsey on a go route when Ramsey fell on the fourth-and-1 game ender. If Burrow had a sliver more time … pic.twitter.com/uQfgqZ88P4
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) February 14, 2022
This wasn't analogous to the Super Bowl where Tom Brady threw for 500 yards, only to lose to Nick Foles and the Eagles.
It's just that Burrow's performance isn't anywhere near as bad as Ruiz claims, nor do the "advanced" stats he cites come close to capturing the degree of difficulty Burrow was dealing with.