Unflappable. Unwavering. Unbelievable. Burrow is the NFL’s new Joe Cool

The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl.

Repeat: The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl.

One more time, so it truly sets in: The Cincinnati Bengals, two years after sinking to the league’s basement, are 60 minutes away from winning it all.

It was fitting that on the weekend in which Tom Brady’s retirement was teased, Joe Burrow shone. Brady was the spiritual heir to his hero Joe Montana. In Burrow, the league has a quarterback who neatly completes the circle; another player with a backstory that would be rejected as corny were it fiction. Another instant franchise changer. Another player who raises his game in the biggest moments. In Burrow, the NFL has found its new Joe Cool.

Time and again, no matter how iffy the play-call, no matter how poor the protection, no matter how many resources a defense allocates to the Bengals’ No 1 receiver Ja’Marr Chase, Burrow finds a way. He slips and slides. He bobs and weaves. Burrow is not a supreme athlete but he does just enough to keep the chains moving, to avoid pressure, to extend plays and drives, to give his team a chance to score points when the other parts of the offense do click. He is the ultimate problem solver.

JOE BURROW IS RIDICULOUS ‼️(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/vjvemXy8Xc

Unflappable. Unwavering. Call it what you want. As the intensity rises, Burrow finds a way to produce. Only two quarterbacks have led teams to college football’s FBS National Championship and a Super Bowl title: Montana and Joe Namath. In two weeks, Burrow can become the third.

Sunday’s game will be principally remembered for Burrow’s excellence. But this was as much a Chiefs loss as a Bengals win. Throughout the first half, the Chiefs were at their unstoppable best on offense.