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Is Joe Burrow the NFL's best quarterback? As a passer, right now, yes
Sixteen touchdown passes in four games, the league lead in TDs, rating and accuracy, and Sunday night two streaks only Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning have reached.
For most of this decade, the question of who's the NFL's best quarterback has had two answers: Patrick Mahomes, for what he's won, and Josh Allen, for what he can do. Halfway through 2026, Joe Burrow is making it a three-way argument, and on the numbers he's winning it.
Through eight games, Burrow leads the league with 23 touchdown passes and a 114.8 passer rating. He's completing 74.0 percent of his throws, more than four points ahead of anyone else with at least 120 attempts. Cincinnati is 6–2 and has won four straight.
Eight games, two losses
Here is Burrow's season, game by game:
| Week | Opponent | Result | Comp–Att | Yards | TD | INT | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Tampa Bay | W 33–27 | 25–35 | 254 | 1 | 1 | | 2 | at Houston | W 20–6 | 20–31 | 207 | 2 | 0 | | 3 | at Pittsburgh | L 27–30 | 28–37 | 282 | 3 | 0 | | 4 | Jacksonville | L 17–22 | 39–54 | 428 | 1 | 2 | | 5 | at Miami | W 31–24 | 23–32 | 190 | 4 | 0 | | 7 | at Baltimore | W 35–13 | 22–30 | 292 | 4 | 0 | | 8 | Tennessee | W 43–36 | 38–48 | 462 | 5 | 3 | | 9 | at Atlanta | W 34–17 | 24–29 | 271 | 3 | 0 |
The two losses came in back-to-back September weeks. At Pittsburgh he threw three touchdowns without an interception and the Bengals still lost by three. Against Jacksonville he threw 54 times for 428 yards, the only game this season in which he threw more interceptions than touchdowns.
He has two 400-yard games, and Cincinnati is 4–1 on the road. The Bengals are scoring 30 points a game, but they're allowing almost 22, which is part of why he has had to carry so much of it. Against Tennessee, a 43–36 shootout, he threw 48 times for 462 yards and five touchdowns.
A month nobody else has had
The last four games are where the case got loud. Burrow threw 16 touchdown passes in them, with three interceptions, and completed 77 percent of his passes.
Sixteen touchdown passes in four games has been done by only three other quarterbacks: Tom Brady in 2007, Peyton Manning in 2013 and Russell Wilson, twice. Over that stretch, Burrow's passer rating is 132.0.
On November 10, NFL.com's MVP tracker put him at No. 1. Its weekly quarterback rankings did the same that week, putting him ahead of Allen and Jordan Love. Mahomes was ninth.
Burrow vs. Allen
Allen is the hardest comparison, because he gets there a different way.
| Through Week 9 | Burrow | Allen | |---|---|---| | Record | 6–2 | 7–1 | | Passing yards | 2,386 | 2,027 | | Passing TD | 23 | 12 | | Rushing TD | 3 | 9 | | Interceptions | 6 | 6 | | Completion % | 74.0 | 66.1 | | Yards per attempt | 8.1 | 8.6 |
Burrow has nearly twice as many touchdown passes. Allen has nine rushing touchdowns and 285 rushing yards, gains more per throw, and has the better record. In fantasy terms, it's close to a dead heat: by our numbers Allen has 206.7 PPR points to Burrow's 205.1, the top two quarterbacks in the league.
If "best quarterback" means best passer, it's Burrow, and it isn't close this year. If it means the player who does the most to win games, Allen still has a real claim.
Burrow vs. Mahomes
Mahomes has three Super Bowl titles and two league MVPs. Burrow has neither, and no season of passing numbers changes that.
This season, though, the gap runs the other way. Mahomes has 14 touchdown passes, 2,037 yards and a 101.8 passer rating, and Kansas City is 6–2. Burrow has nine more touchdown passes in the same number of games.
Burrow has also beaten him when it counted. He took Cincinnati past Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game after the 2021 season, on the way to the Super Bowl. What he hasn't done is win one.
Sunday night against Pittsburgh
The next test comes on Sunday night, at home against the Steelers. They're one of the two teams that have beaten him. Pittsburgh won 30–27 in Week 3, though Burrow threw for 282 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
Two pieces of history are on the line. Burrow has thrown at least three touchdowns with a passer rating of 115 or better in four straight games. One more would make him only the second quarterback to do it five games in a row, after Wilson in 2015. He has also accounted for at least four touchdowns, passing and rushing, in four straight. Five would match Manning's run in his 2004 MVP season.
So is he the best?
Right now, as a passer, yes. Nobody is more accurate, nobody has thrown more touchdowns, and nobody has had a better month.
"Best quarterback" usually means something that lasts longer than a month, though. Mahomes owns the résumé, and Allen brings a running game no pocket passer can match. What Burrow still lacks is an MVP award and a ring.
Halfway through 2026, he's the front-runner for the first. The second gets settled in the playoffs.
