Is Mahomes Vs Burrow Next Great AFC QB Rivalry?

Sunday’s game will once again be a crucial one for the AFC playoff picture. The Kansas City Chiefs travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals. Each team currently leads their respective division, with the Chiefs having locked up the AFC West already. This game features many bright young stars. However, the quarterbacks will garner much of the focus, similar to almost any other game.

This Sunday’s matchup will be the first between Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. Both former first round picks have been lauded for their leadership, their focus on winning and their ability to light up the scoreboard quickly.

In fact, there are actually many similarities that these two passers possess. The way in which Mahomes and Burrow win respectively may not necessarily look the same, visually. But, there are many signs to point towards that could lead to a hotly contested game on Sunday. Could this be the next great quarterback rivalry within the AFC?

Which similarities are there between Mahomes and Burrow? Let’s kick it off.

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Winning In A Variety Of Ways

Part of the reason as to why both Mahomes and Burrow have achieved early success, is due to the full package that they provide in their toolbox. The understanding of angles that each passer presents has quickly grown early on in their careers. On top of that, these two have great knowledge when it comes to combining quick timing, anticipation and ball placement on their throws.

For Mahomes, he may possess more arm strength than Burrow does. The Chiefs quarterback is able to flick the ball rapidly. What this does is allow for Kansas City’s pass catchers to receive the ball early on in the route, giving them a chance to explode for more yards after the catch. Mahomes’ ball placement is possibly his best trait when he is locked in. So effortlessly, he places the ball where only his guy can go get it.

On the other hand, Burrow may be a bit more well-rounded with his accuracy. The difference between that and ball placement purely lies in the touch on each throw. In seemingly all areas of the field, Burrow makes sure to hit the receiver on the chest or out in front of them. Cincinnati pass catchers rarely have to break stride or adjust too harshly when high pointing the football.

Mahomes and Burrow have proven that they can win with the quick passing game, the play action game from under center, attacking the deeper areas of the field and by using their legs. More impressively, both quarterbacks have begun to learn what is more simple to attack opposing defenses with. Each of Mahomes and Burrow have shown a more grounded approach and have taken what the defense is giving them more often. With these two, the Chiefs and the Bengals are rarely incapable of overcoming any sort of deficit. They clearly continue to improve and churn out wins.

Overcoming Difficult Situations

Expanding further on that last point, each quarterback has already proven that they can overcome some of the more difficult situations at the NFL level. Look no further than the entire run to the Super Bowl win two years ago for Mahomes. Patrick and the Chiefs offense faced what seemed to be near insurmountable deficits in each playoff game. Kansas City trailed 24-0 to the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round, 17-7 to the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game and 20-10 to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. Mahomes helped push his team across the finish line victoriously each and every time, however.

More recently, Mahomes was surgical late against the Los Angeles Chargers to hit on quick throws and lead the team to a major overtime win on the road. Last Sunday, he had arguably his best performance of the season to trounce the Pittsburgh Steelers. He did it without his top two weapons in Travis Kelce (entirely) and mostly without leaning on Tyreek Hill. So much for the takes that Mahomes could not succeed without that duo.

Burrow may not have as many comebacks or game winning drives under his belt yet. Though, he has come through twice in particular to help lead the Bengals to victory this season. Week One against the Minnesota Vikings saw Burrow scratch and claw to deliver a game winning drive in overtime and start Cincinnati’s season off on the right foot. Meanwhile, it was only a few weeks later when Burrow delivered a fourth quarter comeback and game winning drive in a Thursday night game at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was one of Jacksonville’s lone strong showings and Burrow was not getting the same usual help he receives from offensive skill players. In those two games, Burrow finished with a combined completion percentage of 76.27 percent, four touchdown passes to zero interceptions and 609 passing yards.

While the performances Burrow had against division opponents did not warrant a comeback, being able to dominate teams that have painfully controlled the Bengals for many years had to feel refreshing. Burrow helped deliver a combined 4-0 record this season against rivals like the Baltimore Ravens and the Steelers. That is the first time that the Bengals have swept both division opponents in the same season since 2009. Against Baltimore alone, he accumulated 941 passing yards, a completion percentage of 71.4 percent and seven passing touchdowns to just one interception across both games.

Finally, both quarterbacks have overcome freak injuries early in their careers. Mahomes has dealt with a knee patella dislocation, a scary neck injury/concussion in the playoffs and a horrible case of turf toe. Meanwhile, Burrow has come back relatively stronger than most players have in the year after they suffered a torn ACL. There was also more damage to his MCL, PCL and meniscus.

Uplifting Players And Team Around Them

Many teams have serviceable quarterbacks. Some are able to win with less talent around them more often than others. And to a degree, every quarterback needs immense talent around them in order to succeed. Football is a team sport after all. There is a difference in feeding off of the talent around you, and uplifting your offensive skill players and team alike, though.

In a nutshell, that is what both Mahomes and Burrow can instill in their team. That aforementioned ability to overcome even the most dire of situations at the NFL level is not normal. Making those comebacks, game winners and long, commanding drives look routine is not capable for just any quarterback. Both Mahomes and Burrow give those around them belief. Belief that they can improve in one on one situations. Belief that they can do battle against the game’s best defenders. And most of all, belief that every game is winnable and that no situation is too big.

Franchise Cornerstones

The place that each of these passers hold in their team’s respective history is quite rich. By no means, is this like Major League Baseball. The existence of a salary cap does make a difference for these teams that are seen to be in low markets, so to speak. Yet still, the Chiefs and the Bengals have each gone through a difficult franchise stretch more than once.

Kansas City went through nearly two full decades of misery and distress in the 2000s and 2010s before drafting Mahomes in the first round in 2017. It was a gamble to trade up 17 spots to get their guy. In fact, the Mahomes selection was the first time since 1983 that Kansas City had selected a quarterback in the first round (Todd Blackledge). It seems to have worked out fairly well for the franchise that felt like they would never find their franchise quarterback.

Joe Burrow came out of nowhere to become the number one overall pick in 2020. After transferring from Ohio State and landing at LSU, he capped off his collegiate career with arguably one of the greatest seasons ever by a college QB in 2019. Burrow finished with a then record 60 passing touchdowns (which was later broken this season by Bailey Zappe of Western Kentucky- 62 passing touchdowns). To boot, Burrow finished as the best in NCAA that year in completion percentage (76.3 percent), passing yards (5,671) and passer rating (202). The LSU product also failed to hurt his team with turnovers, finishing with a measly six interceptions. He and the star-studded Tigers finished the season with a perfect 15-0 record and a National Championship victory, LSU’s first since 2007.

The early results have certainly not been perfect in Cincinnati. Nevertheless, the Bengals are in a position to win the AFC North, as they currently lead the division with a 9-6 record. The team’s last previous division title and playoff appearance came in 2015. In between that season and drafting Burrow, the Bengals compiled a miserable 21-42-1 record. The sky is the limit for the budding, young star quarterback wearing tiger stripes.

Limitless Futures

The future will not always be tremendous and enjoyable for Mahomes and Burrow. They have each had to deal with their fair share of adversity. That includes this season. Mahomes was turning the ball over earlier this season at a rate that had not previously happened in his NFL career. He has gone back to the drawing board and fine-tuned some things. It has helped lead to a Chiefs winning streak that is currently at eight games. Furthermore, Mahomes may be playing his best football at the right time. Kansas City appears to be on their way to getting the AFC’s number one seed. If they host the AFC Championship Game, that would be the fourth straight season where Kansas City would be at home in Arrowhead Stadium to host the conference title game.

On the flip side, Burrow had to work to overcome a middle of the season slide going into the Bengals bye week. His team had dropped a quirky game on the road to one of the league’s worst teams in the New York Jets. During the following week, Cincinnati returned home to face their in-state rivals, the Cleveland Browns. It was an embarrassing showing, which led to the Bengals lone divisional loss this season. Since the bye week, Burrow and the Bengals have gone 4-2, have battled in every game and have been in a position to win each one.

Going forward, we could see a lot more faceoffs between these two. Their futures are still quite unpredictable. That is no different for any other quarterback. But for Mahomes and Burrow, there appears to be no limit on what the young passers could accomplish down the road.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.