There are many things to blame for the Cincinnati Bengals being one of the NFL's most disappointing teams in 2024 with their 1-4 records. The play of quarterback Joe Burrow isn't one of them.
Burrow, coming off a massive contract extension he signed last season that pays him $219 million guaranteed at an average annual salary of $55 million per season, is doing everything he can to help the Bengals win games.
Cincinnati, no matter what Burrow does with the offense, has the No. 26 total defense in the NFL along with the No. 31 scoring defense, only ahead of Carolina, the team it beat for the only win so far in Week 4. The Bengals are No. 30 against the run and No. 19 vs. the pass.
Meanwhile, the Bengals offense is averaging 28 points per game. That's fourth behind the Commanders, Ravens, and Bills. Those three winning teams have a combined record of 10-5, and two of them have beaten the Bengals in high-scoring games.
Burrow said before facing Baltimore in Week 5 he had to be perfect for Cincinnati to win. He made one mistake, a fourth-quarter interception that ended up leading his team to blowing a late lead and losing 41-38 in overtime,
Here's a statistical breakdown of what Burrow is doing at age 27 in his fifth NFL season.
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Joe Burrow leads the NFL in two big QB stats
Burrow has 12 TD passes in the first five games. That puts him one ahead of two surprising QBs who are tied at 11, the Vikings' Sam Darnold and the Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield.
Among quarterbacks who have started all five games this season, he leads the league in passer rating at 113.6. He also is second in the NFL with a 72.3 completion percentage, behind only Commanders rookie sensation Jayden Daniels.
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How Joe Burrow's stats compare to his 2021 season
Burrow broke out in his second season after his rookie campaign was cut short by a torn ACL. During that Comeback Player of the Year effort, Burrow led the league with a 70.4-percent completion percentage and 8.9 yards per attempt despite taking a league-high 51 sacks. He ended up leading the Bengals all the way to Super Bowl 56.
Burrow is now setting the pace for career highs in completion percentage and efficiency. He also threw 4,611 yards in a 16-game season in 2021. He's on pace for 4,658 over 17 games in '24, along with more than 40 TDs. Burrow is also on track to throw fewer than double-digit interceptions for the first time with only two in five games. He's averaging 7.9 yards per attempt, but he's also leading the league in ESPN QBR at 73.6.
By every metric in '24, those are more MVP-caliber numbers, not the QB of a team with a .200 winning percentage.
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Joe Burrow vs. other qualified passer rating leaders
The last time the quarterback who led the league in passer rating and wasn't on a playoff team was Steve Young for the 1991 49ers, who just missed the postseason at 10-6.
From 1992 through 2023, not only did every passer rating leader turn into a playoff QB, but many made it to at least the conference championship game — 13 out of 33 (39.3 percent).
The Bengals finishing with a losing record in the end can be considered an insane anomaly should Burrow remain the league's most efficient passer in 2024. The last time the NFL passer rating leader quarterbacked a sub-.500 team was 41 years ago when Steve Bartkowski did it for the 1983 Falcons.
Joe Burrow proves again that QB wins are not a real QB stat
Bad NFL teams often have bad quarterbacks. The Bengals are, record-wise, an awful team with a terrific QB. Unless Burrow can suddenly play everywhere at a high level on a defense in personnel transition that's been further hampered by injuries, Cincinnati isn't set up to improve much the rest of the season.
Those coming to bury Burrow for the Bengals' frustrating record should instead praise him for making the best of the situation and keeping the team from becoming a whole lot worse.
