THE GAP IS CLOSING
Burrow catching up with Mahomes as they face off for Super Bowl spot
Less than a month ago, after Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs were bested by Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals, Mahomes congratulated Burrow with a handshake on the field and mentioned casually that the two would see each other again in the post-season.
Mahomes, in his fourth year as Kansas City’s starter, has become the archetype of the dual-threat playmaker that has supplanted the typical pocket passers who once defined the NFL’s quarterback position. Burrow, Cincinnati’s confident second-year quarterback, has ascended as one of the league’s main draws, both with his ability to rifle passes with pinpoint precision and his entertaining locker-room celebrations.
Mahomes and Burrow are in two different stages of their NFL careers, but they are separated in age by just one year. This season, the gap between them has narrowed.
Mahomes, 26, will try to lead Kansas City to its third straight Super Bowl appearance in the AFC championship game Sunday against Burrow, 25, and the Bengals, an exciting young team but one that few pegged as a contender going into this season.
“If you want to do the things that we want to do, (Kansas City is) the team that you’re going to have to beat every single year,” Burrow told reporters this week. “The AFC has run through them for four straight years.”
The Chiefs began the 2021 season with a 3-5 record, during which Mahomes looked uncharacteristically unsettled at times. He threw a career-high 13 interceptions this season, but Kansas City won nine of its last 10 games of the regular season and earned its fourth straight berth in the AFC title game once the team’s defence steadied. Mahomes settled in to finish with 4,839 passing yards, the secondhighest total of his career.
Mahomes’ rebound hints at the assuredness that he has built in a short career. He is 50-13 and hasn’t missed the post-season as a starter. He has one Super Bowl win in two appearances and was named the league’s MVP in 2018. Mahomes led Kansas City to the AFC championship game that year, where the team lost to Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in overtime, before going on to dominate the conference as Brady’s career waned.
Mahomes sees his NFL success as a continuation of his path as a sought-after baseball prospect who faced an uphill climb to be taken seriously. “It just makes you hungry,” he told reporters this week. “And whenever you get the chance, you want to make the most of it. You want to prove those guys right that believed in you.”
Burrow had just as many questions to answer about his football potential coming out of high school, and he transferred from Ohio State to Louisiana State after Dwayne Haskins beat him out for the Buckeyes’ starting job. As a graduate transfer, Burrow led the Tigers in 2019 to one of the most dominant seasons in college football history, going undefeated en route to a national championship win over Clemson.
Archie Manning, the former New Orleans Saints quarterback and father of former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli, developed a mentor relationship with Burrow in 2019 after he attended his football camp, the Manning Passing Academy, three years after Mahomes did.
“He handles himself real well, but it’s very obvious he wants to be a good player,” Manning said Wednesday. “And he believes he’s a good player.”
Burrow had a promising rookie season in 2020, with 13 touchdowns and more than 2,600 passing yards in 10 games, but it was derailed when he tore multiple ligaments in his left knee. In his return this season, Burrow bounced back to throw for more than 4,500 yards with a 70 per cent completion rate, thanks in part to the Bengals having drafted his college teammate, Ja’Marr Chase, to be a frequent target.
“I think I am who I am because of the difficult times that I went through in my career,” Burrow said, “and if you look at the quarterbacks that were in the playoffs, a lot of them have gone through a lot of adversity throughout their careers, whether it was early on in high school without offers.”
The combination of Burrow and Chase, who set the single-game rookie receiving record (266 yards) against Kansas City earlier this month, pushed the Bengals into Super Bowl contention, an early sign of a successful rebuild in Cincinnati after years of mediocrity stamped by missing the playoffs. Sunday will be the Bengals’ first conference championship appearance in more than 30 years.
Manning said he expected Sunday’s matchup to be the first of many future battles between Mahomes and Burrow, who he said were extensions of a crop of young talented quarterbacks in their division.
“I mean, it’s some good-looking young quarterbacks,” he said, “especially on that AFC side.”