Joe Burrow can still be the one.
The AFC quarterback who can outmaneuver Patrick Mahomes in huge games.
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Joe Cool for the Cincinnati Bengals, who almost won the Super Bowl three years ago and nearly made it back to the big game in the follow up.
In 2022, this was a fact: Burrow and the Bengals were the primary rival to Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs
Two seasons later, Cincy is a disappointing 0-1, while Mahomes' team is back-to-back Super Bowl champs and has started the 2024 campaign back on top of the NFL with a 1-0 mark.
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"We both picked the Bengals as our Super Bowl pick in the AFC," said talkSPORT NFL Rundown host Will Gavin.
Phoebe Schecter, a former NFL coach with the Buffalo Bills, also picked Burrow's squad to represent the American Football Conference at the Superdome in New Orleans on February 9, 2025.
But the biggest upset of Week 1 belonged to the New England Patriots in the post-Bill Belichick era, as Jerod Mayo's crew stunned NFL fans by beating the Bengals 16-10 in Cincinnati.
With Burrow only passing for 164 yards and Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase fighting for a new contract, the Bengals were completely out of rhythm and looked nothing like a Super Bowl contender.
"They they got just trounced on Sunday by a not very good Patriots team," Gavin said.
When Schecter was asked about her "concern" level, the NFL analyst stuck by a Bengals team that still has Super Bowl pieces but is coming off an uneven 9-8 season in 2023 that saw Burrow lost to injury and a last-place finish in the AFC North.
"I'm not concerned," Schecter exclusively told talkSPORT.
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"I'm not concerned because Joe Burrow ... is one of five now, in terms of winning his first game of the season.
"They are slowly going to increase. They're going to be moving up in the right way again. This is going to be hopefully his first full season playing again after being injured last year.
"I mean my biggest concern was the defense. I felt like the defense last year was so strong for them and was what really kept him in the game."
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Burrow is one of the only QBs in the NFL with a winning edge on Mahomes.
Combined, they're worth $725 million in pro football contracts, and top the list of the highest-paid QBs in the sport.
Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, is 2-0 against the Chiefs QB in the regular season and 1-1 in the playoffs, giving the Bengal a 3-1 advantage in head-to-head matchups.
Burrow and the Bengals knocked the Chiefs out of the 2021 AFC Championship, winning 27-24 in a thriller.
A year later, they met again in the AFC finale.
Burrow passed for more yards (270) than Mahomes, but the Chiefs carved out a tight 23-20 win.
Kansas City is simply trying to go 2-0 on Sunday night back at Arrowhead Stadium.
