Can Joe Burrow And The Bengals Keep Proving That Anything's Possible?

According to statistics, there are 1,093,234 high school football players in the US. Of those, only 6.5% of those will play NCAA College ball. From there, just 1.6% of college stars will be drafted in to the NFL.

In simple terms, just making it to the NFL, let alone thriving in the world of pro football is incredibly hard. 

Joe Burrow arrived at the Cincinnati Bengals off the back of what’s widely regarded as the greatest-ever season by a college quarterback and one that saw Burrow lift the Heisman Trophy and lead his LSU side to an undefeated NCAA season.

Expectations were high, further fuelled when he became the first pick in the 2020 Draft.

Thankfully, Burrow has always been used to defying expectations.

He spent his early college career warming the bench at Ohio State which seems almost unthinkable now given the success he’s wielded in both college and in the pros.

He became the only rookie QB of his class to start in week one of of the 2020 season and would soon grown into the role throwing 13 touchdowns, rushing for a further three and competing 65.3% of his attempts. 

While his first season in the NFL ended with injury his 89.8 passer rating told the story of a Qb who found his feet quite quickly at the highest level. 

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This season, Burrow has came back stronger and better than ever and has quickly solidified his place among the absolute elite of the sport. 

His 70.4% pass completion led the entire NFL this season while setting Bengals franchise records for both touchdowns (34) and yards (4611).

Most crucially he’s led Cincinnati to two playoff wins and a first trip to the AFC championship in 34 years where they’ll this week lock horns with the Kansas City Chiefs. 

However to take the next step and drag his Bengals to the biggest sporting stage in American sport, Burrow will be staring down the NFL’s other generational talent, Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes, like Burrow is in exceptional form and is fresh off a phenomenal performance against the Buffalo Bills where he threw for 378 yards and 3 touchdowns.

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For all his talent, and all his success this season, Burrow is the undisputed underdog heading in to this fight yet if history, movies and video games has taught us anything it's that the underdog always has a chance. 

What should give Cincinnati hope of pulling off the upset is that the Bengals pipped the Chiefs in week 17, with Burrow producing his best game yet as a pro throwing for 446 yards, four touchdowns and submitting a massive 148 Qb rating. 

The question is, can he replicate that performance in an AFC championship game?

If one man has continued to demonstrate that anything is possible, that man is Joe Burrow.

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