Ever since Joe Burrow led the Cincinnati Bengals to a Super Bowl in his sophomore campaign – a Super Bowl that the Bengals lost by just three points – expectations for Burrow and the Bengals have not wavered.

Burrow has solidified himself since that Super Bowl appearance as one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, and led the league in completions (460), yards (4,918) and touchdowns (43) this past season. Burrow has also previously led the NFL in yards-per-attempt and completion percentage. In fact, Burrow’s career mark of 68.6 percent is the highest completion percentage in NFL history.

The Bengals locked up Burrow’s top two weapons – Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins – this past offseason, leaving no excuse for Burrow to not lead them back to the promised land.

CBS Sports’s Jeff Kerr feels as though Burrow is under some of the most pressure to win the Big Game in the NFL. Burrow ranked fifth among quarterbacks in Kerr’s list of players with the most pressure to win a Super Bowl.

“The 2024 Bengals allowed the most points per game in losses in NFL history (27.8), and had six losses with 25+ points last season,” Kerr noted. “Burrow was the third quarterback in league history with 40+ passing touchdowns in a season (43) who missed the playoffs while leading the league with 4,918 passing yards. So why is there pressure on Burrow? The Bengals need Burrow to perform at a high level every week to win games, and lose games when Burrow is just ‘good.’ Burrow has a loaded group of pass catchers, but a poor offensive line and a bad defense.

“He has to play excellent in order for the Bengals to win football games. Perhaps if the Bengals get their roster construction figured out, Burrow can make deep playoff runs again. His quarterback success will be skewed until that’s figured out.”

While some of Kerr’s critiques on the Bengals fall out of Burrow’s purview, namely the Bengals’ defensive woes, Burrow is the leader of the team and is being paid handsomely to own that pressure and get his team over the hump.