Joe Burrow's poise, leadership and maturity have been compelling during the Bengals' unforseen run to Super Bowl 56. (USA Today)
The careers of Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield are streaking in opposite directions
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Let’s take care of this at the top: Baker Mayfield is 3-0 vs. Joe Burrow.
Not only that, Mayfield has outplayed the Bengals’ Super Bowl quarterback in each game. I mean, it’s not been close.
Mayfield: 52 of 72 (72.2 percent), 734 yards, 9 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 132.7 passer rating.
Burrow: 100 of 148 (67.5 percent), 1,004 yards, 6 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 91.7 rating.
My only explanations for this phenomenon are the Bengals’ defense was trash in the first two meetings in 2020, Burrow was a rookie playing behind a horrible offensive line in 2020, and the Browns’ defense played lights out in their one meeting in 2021, defusing the rocket launcher known as Ja’Marr Chase and handing the Bengals their worst defeat this year, marked by Denzel Ward’s magnificent, heroic, 99-yard Pick Six on the first series.
“Obviously, that wasn’t a great game for us,” Burrow said this week. “I think, if anything, we learned we can’t turn the ball over the way we had been. We’ve been the best team in the league the last 6-7 weeks in not turning the ball over and turnover margin. I think that’s really the one thing that’s kind of turned us around.”
Still, the AFC North division race came down to Game 16.
With two games to go, the Bengals were 9-6 and had to play AFC juggernaut Kansas City. The Browns were 7-8 with a game at coughing and wheezing Pittsburgh.
If the Browns could close Cincinnati’s division lead to one game that weekend, the AFC North title would be decided in Game 17 when the Bengals came to Cleveland for their second meeting. And the Browns owned the tie-breaker.
What happened next wasn’t a game-changer. It was a franchise-changer. Times two.
Burrow threw for 446 yards and 4 touchdowns and turned back Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, 34-31.
Mayfield took 9 sacks and tossed 2 interceptions in bowing to 38-year-old Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, 26-14.
Elevated to a higher level, Burrow rode the Bengals over the Raiders, Titans and Chiefs – besting the invincible Mahomes once again -- in the AFC playoffs and into Super Bowl 56.
Beaten down physically and mentally, Mayfield retreated to left shoulder surgery and an offseason of reflection and uncertainty.
Tale of two No. 1s
How utterly unfair is this?
Roethlisberger, native of Findlay, OH, finally retires, and pockets his 26-3-1 record over the Browns to Canton for future enshrinement, just as Burrow, native of Athens, OH, bursts on the scene as a Super Bowl quarterback in only his second NFL season.
In the middle of this continuum of Browns terror stands the diminutive Mayfield.
The Browns suffered losing seasons for decades, then devised a plan to land a franchise quarterback. They tore down their roster to the studs, traded picks, sacrificed seasons of 1-15 and 0-16, eschewed opportunities to draft Mahomes and Deshaun Watson – in the same draft – and then chose Heisman Trophy-winner Mayfield with the first pick of the 2018 draft.
The Bengals suffered losing seasons for decades, then hit their rock bottom at 2-14 in 2019, earning the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft. Heisman-winner Burrow was the undisputed choice, coming off the greatest season ever for a collegiate quarterback in leading LSU to the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Back then, some media wags advised Burrow to pull an Eli Manning and finagle his way out of stepping into an unwinnable situation with the woeful, mom-and-pop-run Bengals.
“I never thought about telling the Bengals not to draft me or anything like that,” Burrow said. “I was just happy to be in the position I was in. Being the potential No. 1 pick, that was exciting for me. I would never throw that opportunity away.”
Mayfield never blanched at the challenge of taking the Browns on his shoulders after their 0-16 season, either.
Mayfield had to endure two seasons of organizational dysfunction – two coaches fired, two offensive systems implemented – before some stability arrived in the Andrew Berry-Kevin Stefanski partnership.
But after one culture-changing playoff season, the Browns were missing from the playoffs again. Mayfield’s leadership of the team appeared impaired and his future with the Browns was up in the air.
And Burrow and Bengals are in the Super Bowl in their second year together.
Maturity and growth
Burrow’s poise, leadership and maturity have been compelling through his playoff run and the buildup to Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Burrow was a four-star recruit of Ohio State after leading Athens High School to the Ohio Division III championship in 2014. At OSU, Burrow fell behind J.T. Barrett and the loaded Buckeye quarterback depth chart, broke a hand, gave way to Dwayne Haskins, and then transferred to LSU after three years.
“I really wasn’t very good coming into college,” Burrow said. “And I knew I was going to have to get better coming from a real small high school, and it was kind of a culture shock when I came to Ohio State and realized how good everybody was. So I knew I wasn’t going to play early but I worked really hard and they helped develop me into the player I am today. So I owe Ohio State quite a bit.”
Now, after winning the national championship with LSU, having his rookie NFL season cut short by a major ACL injury and surgery, and leading the Bengals to their first postseason victories in 33 years, Burrow is one win away from bringing the Bengals their first Super Bowl championship.
“Being from Ohio and being the quarterback for the Bengals is something I’m really proud of,” Burrow said. “Growing up, there weren’t really a lot of Bengals fans in high school and middle school. It was all Steelers and Browns. A few Bengals fans here and there that kind of got made fun of a little bit. As a team, we’re excited to put a product on the field the fans are proud of. Kind of gives them bragging rights. They haven’t had that for a while, so I’m excited to give that to them.”
I don’t know what is harder to believe – Mayfield going 3-0 against Burrow or Burrow leading the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
Damn.
