The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2023–24 NFL season was lackluster. This was mostly brought on by ace quarterback Joe Burrow’s season-ending wrist injury. They had to watch the Kansas City Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, win another Super Bowl after that. A well-known sports figure thinks Burrow is still superior, even though Mahomes and the Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in five seasons a few days ago.
Bayless Skip Considers Joe Burrow to Be Superior to Patrick Mahomes
Despite Mahomes winning another Super Bowl title this past Sunday, Skip Bayless truly believes Joe Burrow is still the superior quarterback. Bayless cites Burrow’s injury as a fortunate event for Mahomes and the Chiefs. Theoretically, it cleared one roadblock for the Chiefs to come out of the AFC. Here is Bayless’ exact quote:
“I saw it with my eyes. Four games he was right there to beat him.” -Skip Bayless
One big discussion point was what happened in the 2023 AFC Championship game. The Chiefs won that game in a nailbiter and went on to win Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles. However, Bayless argues that Burrow and the Bengals should have won that game.
He cites an egregious penalty committed by the Bengals late in that game. It resulted in gifting the Chiefs an extra 15 yards to set up a game-winning field goal. Bayless believes that AFC Championship loss should not be counted against Burrow and that he has stepped up when it matters most.
Something that strengthens Bayless’ argument is that the Bengals are the only team in the last five seasons to win the AFC Championship besides the Chiefs. Plus, Burrow is just one of two quarterbacks to beat Mahomes in a playoff game. The other one is Tom Brady. It is safe to say that is good company to keep.
Burrow was drafted in 2020 while Mahomes was drafted in 2017. To keep this argument fair, let’s take a look at each of their numbers over the last four seasons. Burrow has over 14,000 passing yards and 97 touchdown passes in his short career.
So, how has Mahomes done in this stretch? He has over 19,000 passing yards and 143 touchdown passes. An important note is that Mahomes has been a lot healthier than Burrow during this stretch. Still, there is a notable difference in numbers between these two quarterbacks. Now, Burrow and the Bengals will have to try to take down the Chiefs while facing salary cap issues in 2024.
