Senior writer says Joe Burrow can still win OPOY despite Bengals’ record

Joe Burrow’s jaw hit the sideline when he looked up at the 160-foot videoboard and saw that the Bengals had recovered a deflected punt. Thanks to a Cowboys miscue, Cincinnati went from fourth-and-27 in a tie game to first-and-10. Three plays later, he went to a dependable implement from his Batmobile: Ja’Marr Chase.

Chase punctuated his 14-catch evening with a 40-yard touchdown and punctuated Week 14 with a 27-20 win. Gracefully toying with the two defenders trailing him into the end zone for the game-winning points, Chase sent Micah Parsons into a distraught fog and caused Jerry Jones to curiously question whether the team should’ve tried to block the punt. Chase finished with 177 yards and two touchdowns.

Burrow, though, was exceptional – just as he’s been all season. He wakes up Tuesday leading the NFL in both passing yards (3,706) and touchdown passes (33, four more than the next-closest player). And while the Bengals’ defense played well on the road Monday, that unit has betrayed Burrow this year. However, Rob Maaddi from the Associated Press said recently that despite Cincinnati’s 5-8 record, Burrow is very much alive for the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Year award.

Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry seem like the front-runners for the award, but if either breaks Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, consider that running back a lock for the MVP. The OPOY usually goes to the NFL’s best non-quarterback because quarterbacks usually capture the MVP. Maaddi, who administers the media voting for both awards, said this could be the year in which a running back wins the MVP, opening the door for Burrow.

“This could be that year where things flip,” Maaddi said on the Up & Adams Show late last week with Kay Adams. “We’ve seen quarterbacks dominate in the MVP. Eleven straight years, quarterbacks have won, whereas Offensive Player of the Year, it’s been running back or wide receiver five years in a row.

“He’s not in the MVP conversation because the Bengals are a losing team, and we know that the MVP usually goes to a team that gets a (postseason) bye over the last 11 years. I think for a season as incredible and impressive as Joe Burrow is having … he could be in that mix.”

Burrow is currently on the best stretch of his career, with four straight games in which he’s reached 300 passing yards and three touchdowns. Since the 1970 league merger, Steve Young had the only such streak longer: Five games in 1998, when the 49ers finished 12-4.

But even if the Bengals finish with a losing record – each of their next two opponents are 3-10, at Tennessee and home against Cleveland – Burrow and Chase certainly have a consolation prize. Both players obviously want a strong finish to convince Cincinnati’s front office to retain the other weapon in the Bengals’ passing game, Tee Higgins.

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