Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II exits after a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022.
In the modern-day NFL, it feels like analysts and media members are constantly debating which quarterback they believe is better than Patrick Mahomes II.
Go back five to 10 years and the legendary Tom Brady held this honor, but now that baton appears to have passed. Mahomes is currently the man to beat, and people love to argue over whether or not the Kansas City Chiefs superstar is the top dog in football.
KC fans have heard it all in recent years — Lamar Jackson during his MVP season, Josh Allen after his ascension, Justin Herbert as the riser inside the division, or Jalen Hurts up until his injury in 2022. It seems like everyone is desperate to find a quarterback that’s consistently better than Mahomes, and polarizing TV personality Skip Bayless came up with the most recent challenger.
NFL Commentator Backs Joe Burrow Over Patrick Mahomes
During an episode of Fox Sports One’s “Undisputed,” Bayless argued that Cincinnati Bengals rival signal-caller Joe Burrow is the only QB he’d prefer to have over Mahomes and Allen.
“The two most exciting players in professional football are Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen — sometimes for the wrong reasons because they’ll try just about anything,” Bayless began, conversing with his co-host Shannon Sharpe. “They’ll make impossibly great plays… and yet they’ll also throw it to the other team, or they’ll lose the football. They make mistakes.”
“Joe Burrow makes fewer mistakes,” he continued, “and for my money and my eye test, he plays the position of quarterback a little better than they play the position of quarterback. All things encompassed, if I could pick one of those three, I would take Joe Burrow going forward and I believe I’m going to win more championships than you’re going to win.”
Sharpe was quick to interject that he’s sticking with Mahomes. Bayless kept going, making the point that Burrow should at least be in this conversation more often.
He has a point there, and Chiefs fans might actually agree considering no one has gotten the better of Kansas City more times over the past year than Burrow and the Bengals. Now, he still has to win a Super Bowl and an MVP to level up to Mahomes status, but you can tell that the former No. 1 overall pick is trending in the right direction.
Are the Bengals the Chiefs’ Biggest Competition?
Last year during the playoffs, many overlooked Cincinnati despite their Cinderella story run into February. After the Chiefs won that ridiculous back-and-forth thriller over the Buffalo Bills, most assumed they would make it to the Super Bowl.
During the AFC Championship game, things looked good for Kansas City over the first half but then the Bengals had other plans. They caught the Chiefs off guard after the break and they’ve had their number ever since.
Now in 2022, Cincy is the hottest team in football heading into the postseason at 10-2 in their last 12 games. They have one less victory than KC and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker if it should come to that.
The Bills may hold the top seed in the AFC as of now, but it’s fair to wonder if the Bengals are the scariest team standing in the Chiefs’ way in the conference. One thing’s for sure, the AFC has become a murderer’s row of elite quarterback talent and this next generation of rivalries and debates is just getting started.
It’s a glorious time to be a football fan.