KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Is Arrowhead Stadium really “Burrowhead’’ Stadium?
The AFC Championship showdown Sunday between the Chiefs and Bengals will decide.
The Bengals, the No. 3 seed in the AFC, have owned the Chiefs, the No. 1 seed, in the three meetings since Cincinnati trotted out its cocksure, victory-cigar-smoking quarterback Joe Burrow.
Burrow, who was selected first overall in the 2020 draft, is not just 3-0 against the Chiefs and their superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but he also has thrown for 982 yards, with eight touchdown passes and just one interception in those games.
In the first meeting, he completed 76.9 percent of his passes; in the second, 80.7 percent; and in the third, 60.5 percent.
Mahomes is considered by most as the best quarterback in the league. His league-leading 41 TD passes and 5,250 yards this season back that up. So, too, do his league MVP awards.
But a Bengals win Sunday, with Burrow playing well, should elevate the Cincinnati quarterback into the best-in-the-NFL argument, perhaps even supplanting Mahomes.
The debate has potential to eventually turn into a replica of the Tom Brady-Peyton Manning comparison, in which Brady won more postseason hardware and Manning owned more of the regular-season passing records.
The AFC divisional playoff win last week in snowy Buffalo was Burrow’s fifth postseason win in his three seasons. He joined Russell Wilson (six) and Ben Roethlisberger (five) as the only quarterbacks to win at least five starts in their first three seasons in the NFL.
The only blemish on Burrow’s postseason record is the 23-20 loss to the Rams in Super Bowl LVI last February.
Mahomes needs to apologize to no one about his 9-3 career playoff record. He has an astounding 30 TD passes to just seven INTs and owns a 106.2 rating.
But the fact is this: If the Burrow and the Bengals win Sunday, they’ll be headed to their second consecutive Super Bowl and Mahomes will have played in his fifth consecutive home conference championship game and will have failed to advance to the Super Bowl for the third time in that span.
Burrow and Mahomes enter the game on different paths. Burrow is at the height of his confidence, having won his fifth playoff game in six tries. Mahomes, meanwhile, has spent the week rehabbing the high right ankle sprain he sustained last week in a win over the Jaguars.
It seems inconceivable that Mahomes, whose gift is his amazing improvisation moving around in the pocket, won’t be at least somewhat compromised physically Sunday.
He has practiced all week, and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Friday that Mahomes will start Sunday. We should know early on in the game if he’ll be limited in his movement.
Burrow sounded more confident this week about the team around him than about himself when comparing this team to the group that lost the Super Bowl to the Rams last year.
“We’re a more complete team now,’’ Burrow said.
And Burrow is an even better quarterback, as evidenced by the way he so marvelously managed the win last week at Buffalo, where three of his five starting offensive linemen were out with injuries and he was able to counteract that with quick-release passes that frustrated the Bills’ front seven.
“We can’t let him sit back in the pocket and get into rhythm throws because that’s when he’s most dangerous,” Chiefs safety Justin Reid said this week.
Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton last week caused a stir when he coined the phrase “Burrowhead’’ — in honor of Burrow’s success against the homestanding Chiefs.
“It might have stirred a few pots, but it is what it is,” Hilton said. “That’s just our locker room, man. That’s just who we are. We got a whole bunch of guys that love playing with each other.”
A whole bunch of confident guys, beginning with their victory-cigar-smoking quarterback, who has a chance to unofficially rename Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday.