On Sunday, Joe Burrow became the first quarterback to defeat the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs three straight times, and the Cincinnati Bengals star is gunning for his place as the NFL's best passer.
The Bengals have become the Chiefs' nemesis, defeating them in the AFC Championship game last season and Burrow and company repeated the trick with a 27-24 win at Paul Brown Stadium at the weekend. Despite the defeat, Mahomes remains the betting favourite for the MVP crown, but when it comes to adding another Super Bowl ring to his collection, NFL pundit Colin Cowherd believes the Bengals – and Burrow – have the edge over the Chiefs.
Both Mahomes and Burrow have hugely impressive passer ratings of 105 and 104 respectively, but Cowherd believes Burrow – the 2020 number-one overall pick – has grown into the man for the big occasion and he has crucial advantages over Mahomes and Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen.
"The Bengals are built to beat the Chiefs, more than Buffalo," Cowherd said on The Herd. "I think they are better situationally than Buffalo because Burrow is a more accurate thrower and it's easier to get third downs with a long game, mid game and short game than Josh Allen.
"Joe Burrow has now entered the realms of Mahomes and Allen. We now have three great quarterbacks in the league. All three are in their athletic prime, all three can move, all three have requisite arms.
"Mahomes may be the raw talent, Allen the physical specimen, but does anybody in critical situations throw the ball more accurately and to the right person more often than Joe Burrow? I think not."
After a 0-2 start to the season, the Bengals have built nicely and are tied atop the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens with an 8-4 record, but they may have to do it the hard way when it comes to the playoffs.
The Bengals have a brutal five-game slate to finish the regular season, with divisional games against the Ravens and the Cleveland Browns, who have had the wood on them in recent seasons, as well as tough tests against Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills, with a tricky matchup against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots sandwiched between.
But Sunday's big win against the Chiefs underlined the Bengals credentials as one of the top teams in the NFL and they have the chance to cement their status as a championship contender, with hopes of going one better than last year's defeat to the LA Rams in the Super Bowl.
