Joe Burrow‘s NFL career has been brief, but eventful. Fresh off of winning a College Football Playoff National Championship at LSU, Burrow was the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Burrow entered his freshman season in the NFL with high expectations but he suffered a knee injury in November that abruptly ended his season. In his sophomore campaign, Burrow made up for lost time. He has since led the Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl LVI as they take on the Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 13. The game will be broadcast live today on NBC and Peacock.
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Joe Burrow’s College Career
Burrow began his college career as a backup QB at Ohio State before transferring to LSU prior to the start of the 2018 season. In his two years as quarterback of the Tigers, Burrow posted a 68.5 completion percentage and threw 76 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions for a QB rating of 173.2.
In his senior season in 2019, Burrow set nearly every LSU single-season passing record. He became the only player in SEC history to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 TDs in a season while setting the NCAA single-season record for TD passes (60) and total touchdowns (65). Backed by his historic performance, Burrow led the Tigers to a perfect 15-0 mark and the NCAA National Championship Game. In that game against Clemson, Burrow capped off a stellar season with 31 completions on 49 attempts for 463 yards and five touchdowns. He led LSU to a convincing 42-25 win over Clemson to win the CFP National Championship.
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Joe Burrow’s Rookie Season in the NFL
After rewriting the NCAA record books, Burrow was the obvious No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, which went to the Bengals who had posted a 2-14 record in the previous season. Due to Burrow’s college accomplishments, he was expected to make an immediate impact at the NFL level.
But Burrow suffered a season-ending knee injury in November and Cincinnati finished with four wins – just two more than the previous season. With the fifth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Bengals selected Burrow’s LSU teammate, Ja’Marr Chase. Though Chase did not play in his senior season due to COVID-19, his 2019 numbers were enough to turn heads as he finished with 1,780 yards and 84 receptions and 20 touchdowns over 14 games. Expectations started to rise in Cincinnati again as the team prepared to have a healthy Burrow under center and an electric receiver in Chase on the outside.
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Joe Burrow’s Sophomore Season in the NFL
From the beginning of the 2021-22 season, the Bengals proved that they had the ability to be competitive with some of the top teams in the league. In Week 5, Cincinnati fell to the Green Bay Packers, 25-22 in overtime, almost beating the eventual No. 1 seed in the NFC. A commanding 41-17 win over the division-rival Ravens in Week 7 elevated the Bengals to a 5-2 record. Cincinnati lost two surprising games to the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, but they closed out the regular season with statement wins over the Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs to clinch the AFC North title.
Throughout it all, Burrow showed improvement both as a passer and as a leader. This week, he received Comeback Player of the Year honors and Chase was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. Burrow finished the regular season sixth in passing yards and posted the second-best passer rating in the entire NFL at 108.3, trailing only Aaron Rodgers, who was named MVP.
In the NFL playoffs, the Bengals have continued to impress. With a win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Super Wild Card Weekend, the Bengals snapped a 31-year playoff losing streak – the longest drought without a win in the postseason in the NFL. The wins kept coming as the Bengals unseated the No. 1 seed Tennessee Titans in the Divisional Round and then came all the way back to upset Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.
The Bengals have entered each playoff game as the underdog – a mentality, however, that Burrow rejects. After defeating the Titans, Burrow told The Athletic, “I’m tired of the underdog narrative. We are a really, really good team. We are here to make noise.”
After knocking off the Chiefs and advancing to the league’s biggest game on the biggest stage, Burrow and the Bengals are just one win away from proving the doubters wrong.
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How can I watch and stream Super Bowl 2022 live?
- When: Sunday, February 13, 2022
- Where: SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California
- TV Channel: NBC
- Live stream: Peacock, NBC Sports app, NBCSports.com
- Follow along with ProFootballTalk and NBC Sports for NFL news, updates, scores, injuries and more
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