LSU Football: Will Joe Burrow win a Super Bowl with Bengals?

After being the first overall selection, the expectations are sky high for LSU football’s Joe Burrow. Can he win a Super Bowl in Cincinnati?

There is no question that Joe Burrow was the top quarterback in college football last year, and that bore itself out in his first overall selection in the NFL Draft. He won the Heisman Trophy, and also added the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Johnny Unitas, Manning and Lombardi Awards to the shelf in a historic season.

There’s even an argument to be made that, aside from Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, Burrow’s 2019 season may have been more buzzworthy than many NFL quarterbacks.

He’s already the favorite to be the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2020.

Netflix has even, accidentally, helped Burrow out as well, because he’s now got one of the best nicknames in recent memory with the “Tiger King” and “Joe Exotic” monikers.

Burrow has had tremendous success, but his biggest test now awaits him. Is he capable of playing February football and hoisting a Lombardi Trophy?

The first big question regarding Burrow is the system. It’s not lost on anyone that Burrow’s 2018 and 2019 stat lines look very different. Joe Brady’s system helped Burrow improve his completion rate by 19 percent, his passer rating by nearly 70 points, and his touchdown-to-interception ratio from 16/5 to 60/6.

Burrow’s one season is impressive, but it’s also one season in near-perfect conditions. Things were so perfect, in fact, that LSU played a National Championship Game in New Orleans.

Compare that single season of success to Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama, who had an offensive coordinator change every season of his career, and kept up a high level of play.

It wasn’t the offensive schemes alone that helped Burrow. His cast of weapons was electric. On the outside he had 22nd overall pick Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase, and at tight end was now-Redskin Thaddeus Moss. Running next to Burrow was 32nd overall pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Can the Bengals be trusted to provide either of these conditions for Burrow to thrive in? Will Cincinnati have the organizational structure and elite weapons that helped Burrow reach such historic heights in 2019?

The Bengals have averaged five wins a season since 2015. Before that, however, they reached the playoffs in five straight seasons. Each of those runs was ended immediately on Wild Card weekend, with Cincinnati posting an average of 12 points in those playoff appearances.

This is an organization that needs someone to change the image of the franchise. Burrow is being tasked with completely altering the mentality of a franchise that has been losing, painfully, for a long time.

Burrow is a very skilled quarterback, but in a league of skilled quarterbacks, it has been great franchises that have thrived. The well-run Chiefs and the well-run 49ers met in the Super Bowl. Other winners in recent years, like Seattle and New England, have been well-run also.

Cincinnati may reach the postseason with Burrow, and even win a game. As far as a Super Bowl is concerned, however, it’s tough to see the Tiger King adorning an NFL crown.