On Sunday afternoon, we had to go through the painful ascent and descent of hope in the fourth quarter, as Joe Burrow went from having a chance to at least tie the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, before he fumbled the ball, forcing the turnover and ending the game.
The Cincinnati Bengals' QB actually had a fantastic game against the Steelers, throwing for 282 yards and three touchdowns with an elite passer rating of 123.9. However, everyone in the media has chosen to focus on that final drive and that final play, which is unbelievably harsh on Burrow.
This final drive collapse has led NFL Twitter to go into meltdown after a stat about Burrow's record being 1-34 when trailing in the last eight minutes of an NFL game. It's sparked a sudden conversation about Burrow not being a clutch quarterback and not being able to do it in the big moments...Seriously? JOE COOL?
Ryan Fitzpatrick shuts down Joe Burrow haters
After the stat was doing the rounds online, several podcasts and shows have spoken about it, with the majority (unsuprisingly) jumping on the Bengals and Joe Burrow hate. However, former Bengals (and everyone else's) quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's opinion was quite the reverse.
Speaking with former Cincy offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth on Fitz and Whit, Ryan debunked the 34-1 argument after delving into Burrow's numbers himself. Buckle up, by the way; he really delved into the numbers:
"There are 27 times when Joe had the ball with under four minutes left, where he was either trailing or tied, but had the ability on THAT drive to tie the game or take the lead. He did it 18 of the 27 times. In those 18 games, five times he had a PAT blocked, missed the field goal, or didn’t convert the two-point conversion. There were also five times they lost because the opponent scored with less than 30 seconds remaining, or they scored in overtime. That leaves eight of those; those were eight wins, and seven of those eight wins, they were tied when he got the ball, and went down there and won."
Burrow is 1-34 when trailing late? That doesn’t tell the story. Fitz dove deep on the facts:
— Fitz & Whit (@fitzandwhit) September 30, 2026
“There are 27 times were Joe had the ball with under 4 minutes, but had the ability to tie the game or take the lead. He did it 18 of the 27 times… Pretty good rate if you ask me.” pic.twitter.com/qj6aqhsxQC
So, Burrow did his job 18 of 27 times, and eight of THOSE times, the Bengals won the game. But, because the 1-34 stat was about him trailing, it sounds a lot worse than Burrow's stats actually are.
Fitzpatrick continued: "There has only been one instance where they were behind, and he scored, and they won the game. That’s where the 1-34 comes from, but in the 27 instances I looked at, he did his job two-thirds of the time. Pretty good rate if you ask me."
In close games, Burrow is doing his job - It just so happened that he didn't on Sunday, and the NFL media decided to jump on a stat which takes his actually performances straight out of context. It's the usual Bengals doubt. Well done, Ryan Fitzpatrick, someone who actually knows what they're talking about.
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