Joe Burrow’s latest performance gave Orlando Brown Jr. plenty of ammo for an MVP push, and the Bengals left tackle wasted no time making the case.
After Cincinnati’s 34-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons in Madrid, Brown took to X to back his quarterback’s award credentials. Burrow was sharp all afternoon, completing 24 of 29 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns in a game that never really looked like a letdown spot for the Bengals.
“Joe Shiesty better be in your MVP conversations,” Brown shared on X. “Just tore up the dirty birds in Madrid!!”
That kind of production is hard to ignore. Burrow now sits second in the league in passing yards with 2,386 and leads the league in touchdown passes with 23. He’s putting together a season that belongs in the center of the MVP discussion, even if that doesn’t mean the voters will hand him the trophy.
Burrow has been down this road before. In 2024, he was playing as well as any quarterback in football, and still came away empty-handed when the award was decided. That history hangs over the conversation now, especially with the race still wide open.
At the moment, the only clear name at the top is Burrow’s. Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence are the other quarterbacks mentioned in the mix, but neither is producing at Burrow’s level. There is also a non-quarterback forcing his way into the picture: Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is on pace to break Calvin Johnson’s single-season receiving yards record.
If Burrow ends up losing the award to a skill-position player, it would fit a strange league pattern. The NFL hasn’t given MVP to a non-quarterback since 2012.
For now, though, the Bengals star is doing exactly what he can control: stacking huge games and keeping Cincinnati rolling. What happens with the award from here is another story, and one Burrow probably isn’t spending much time on.
In Other News...
Joe Burrows Home Life Now Comes With One Serious Downside
Joe Burrows off-field profile has grown right alongside his status as the Bengals franchise quarterback, and so has his property footprint in Cincinnati. After buying a home in the city in 2020, he added a $7.5 million estate overlooking the Ohio River in 2023, a place that reflected both his success and his decision to plant deeper roots in the area.
But the upside of that kind of home life comes with a clear downside. In December 2024, while Burrow was away, the estate was burglarized and roughly $300,000 worth of belongings were taken, an unsettling intrusion that prompted him to speak publicly about privacy concerns. For a player whose life is already lived under a microscope, the incident served as a reminder that even home can come with a price. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Burrows Start Has Put The AFC North On Notice
Joe Burrow has wasted no time putting the rest of the AFC North on alert. Through the first stretch of the 2026 season, the Bengals quarterback has opened with four straight games of four or more combined passing and rushing touchdowns, a run that puts him in rare company with Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Dan Marino and leaves him just one game shy of Peyton Mannings mark.
It has helped Cincinnati get to 6-2 and settle into second place in the division as the calendar turns toward a pivotal Week 10 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bengals have given themselves a strong early platform, but the bigger question now is whether Burrow can keep this pace going against a division rival that will be paying close attention. [Read more 🡒]
Orlando Brown Jr. Knows This Bengals-Steelers Game Feels Different
The Bengals are headed into one of those late-season measuring-stick games that can reshape a division race in a hurry, and Orlando Brown Jr. knows the temperature is different. With Cincinnati and Pittsburgh both sitting at 6-2, Sundays matchup carries first-place stakes in the AFC North, the kind of setting that tends to sharpen every detail and raise the noise level around the building.
Brown framed it as more than just another date on the schedule, pointing to how much the game means to the players and the fans who follow them. For Cincinnati, the focus starts up front, where the offensive line has to give Joe Burrow the kind of protection and rhythm that can hold up in a game with this much weight behind it. [Read more 🡒]