Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow swaggers into Super Bowl in second NFL season

Not since Joe Namath was winning Super Bowl III and shooting that iconic pantyhose commercial five decades ago has the football world seen a player as comfortable both in his pads on the field and in his own skin off the field as Bengals rising superstar Joe Burrow.

The 25-year-old quarterback has somehow pulled off an unlikely and entirely likeable merger of cigar-smoking swagger and Midwestern humility, gridiron grit and off-field glamour, Bengals football and the doorstep to Cincinnati's first Lombardi Trophy with a win over the Rams in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Sunday.

"There are only so many people who have the self-confidence and the respect to do the types of things Joe does," said Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. "I think the best thing about Joe is how authentic he is. There's nothing made up about him. There's no pretense or falseness. Everything you see about Joe is who he is."

And just who is Joe Burrow? Five years ago, he wasn't good enough to play for Ohio State. Four years ago, he transferred to LSU. Three years ago, he won the national championship slinging perhaps the finest deep balls ever to current teammate Ja'Marr Chase and current Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson. Two years ago, he was drafted No. 1 overall and tore an ACL. This year, he's the first quarterback drafted No. 1 overall to reach a Super Bowl by the end of his second season.

What a run, eh?

Burrow's popularity also has produced more nicknames than he could remember when asked this week to pick his favorite one.

Is it "Joe Brr"? Or "Joe Shiesty"? Or "Joey Franchise"? Or perhaps it's "Joe Cool," although NFL fans of a certain age should insist that one be retired along with Hall of Famer Joe Montana and his four Super Bowl rings.

"Oh, man," Burrow said. "I have a lot of them. Just call me Joe."

Sorry, but no can do. This is no ordinary Joe. Off the field, or on.

Off the field, he puffs the cigars after wins, wears the wild clothes and glasses when he gets the urge, and conducts interviews with refreshing honesty, sounding neither arrogant nor boring, neither reckless nor robotic.

"I try to be myself to the media and I think people kind of appreciate that," Burrow said. "I don't really think about it too much. I answer questions honestly and wear some crazy stuff sometimes, but honestly at the end of the day it's about what you do on the field. So I work really hard to put myself in positions to play well."

On the field, with outstanding receivers and a suspect offensive line, Burrow led the league in both average yards per attempt (8.9) and completion percentage (.704) while finishing second in passer rating (108.3). Chase set the rookie record for receiving yards and heads into the Super Bowl with a league-high eight touchdowns in 20 games on balls thrown at least 20 yards downfield.

On Thursday, Burrow was named Comeback Player of the Year and Chase won AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. The former Bayou Bengals duo also led Ohio's Bengals to their first playoff win in 31 years and their first Super Bowl since 1988.

"We may install a play and say, 'Hey, Ja'Marr, you got this route. It's this depth with this stem,' but he and Joe take it to the next level," Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. "Joe may say, 'I want you to run it with this little nuance at the top,' and Ja'Marr can give his feedback as well. That's the ownership from the players that you need. I don't want to be the one dictating how we do everything.

"I want to lay it out for them. 'Hey, here's our thought. This is why we think it's going to work. You guys can feel free to make it better.' That special relationship those guys have, it's allowed us to make some of the plays we have."

Chase had 109 yards on just five catches in the divisional round upset of the No. 1-seeded Titans. Burrow threw for 348 yards while overcoming nine sacks.

It was that kind of performance that Jefferson probably was referencing during an interview on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" in May 2021.

Asked to name the similarities and differences between Burrow and Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, Jefferson said, "Kirk and Joe throw similar balls. They're not the strongest-armed, but they're going to get it to you exactly where you need them to throw it. But the thing about Joe that's a little bit different ... I feel like Joe has a little more swagger. He has that confidence on the field, and he's not scared to get hit. I feel like as a quarterback, that's a big trait to have. Especially to be as young as he is. He's a phenomenal quarterback."

Burrow probably has set a Super Bowl record this week for fielding questions with the words "swag" or "swagger" attached.

"When I first met Joe [at LSU], he wasn't a very social person because he was around new people, I'm assuming," Chase said. "But as practice went by, I seen how tough he was when [then-LSU linebacker] Devin White used to talk to him. I think his confidence grew as we started to win. That's when his swag just started to take off."

You can say that again.

How about now, Ja'Marr? Where does "Joe Brrr" or "Joe Shiesty" or "Joey Franchise" rank on the Swag-O-Meter?

"I'd give him a 7 this year and see how next year turns out," Chase said. "It's only going to get better from here."

Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-Fox-analyst Terry Bradshaw might have put it even better after Cincinnati's upset at Tennessee.

"This guy," he said, "has that Joe Namath quality."