Aaron Rodgers is currently considered the hottest candidate for the NFL MVP title. However, right before the end of the regular season, an outsider is emerging who has hardly been talked about so far: Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Munich – The MVP race this season is more open than it has been for many years. The outstanding player that everyone can really agree on doesn’t exist this season.

Aaron Rodgers? Has slightly worse stats than last year and caused some turmoil with his vaccination status. Kyler Murray? Missed a few games with injury and doesn’t have top stats. Tom Brady? Playing strong, but also benefiting from the Bucs’ outstanding offense. The chances of a non-quarterback like Jonathan Taylor or Cooper Kupp being named MVP are vanishingly small anyway.

That’s why it would be entirely appropriate to throw another name into the mix with Joe Burrow. This is exactly what US sports reporter Colin Cowherd did recently. “Joe Burrow should be MVP,” Cowherd declared, comparing the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback to Rodgers, who was considered the favourite.

“Joe Burrow has less talent and a younger team around him,” Cowherd explained, “But he plays in a much tougher division. And in both teams’ biggest game outside the division – against Kansas City – Burrow was great. And Aaron wasn’t available. “

Burrow excels against Kansas and Baltimore

In a head-to-head matchup with Patrick Mahomes, Burrow led the Bengals to a 34-31 win with 446 yards and four touchdowns. His passer rating against the Chiefs was 148. The Packers lost 7-13 to Kansas without Rodgers, who had previously tested positive for the Corona virus. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but the Packers’ signal caller had previously lied about his vaccination status. Which is truly not MVP-like.

Another thing in Burrow’s favour: he is the only potential MVP candidate whose form curve has been steadily rising since the beginning of the season. His touchdown-interception ratio is 34:14, but the 25-year-old has not thrown a single ball to the opponent since 5 December. On the other hand, he has scored eleven touchdowns in these four games.

Especially on Boxing Day, Burrow came up big and threw for 525 passing yards in the win against the Baltimore Ravens. With that, he broke the Bengals’ franchise record; only three players in NFL history have ever achieved better figures. The all-time record set by Norm Van Brocklin in 1952 was just 29 yards away.

Burrow remains a glaring underdog in the MVP race

If Burrow had actually spoken that 70-year-old record, he’d probably be a hotter play in the MVP race. As it is, the Bengals playmaker is just a glaring underdog. Most bookmakers don’t even list him in their lists of MVP contenders. But Burrow certainly deserves to be considered for the award. After all, the Bengals have been a franchise that has consistently lost more games than it has won over the past five years.

Now the Big Cats are back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season. Even the No. 1 seed in the AFC is theoretically still possible before the Week 18 game in Cleveland. That upswing is closely tied to Burrow, who came to the Bengals as the first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Meanwhile, he’s well on his way to becoming the franchise quarterback the Ohio franchise had hoped he would be.

Even a serious knee injury in his first season didn’t change that. At 70.5 percent, Burrow currently has a higher completion percentage than Rodgers (68.6), and he also averages more yards (288.2) than the veteran from Green Bay (265.1).

If you look at all these numbers, there is only one question: Why is Joe Burrow not being considered as an MVP candidate?