CINCINNATI — If you were to ask 100 football fans to rank the top five quarterbacks in the NFL right now, there’s a good chance that every single one of them would have Joe Burrow on their list. Since being taken with the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Burrow has taken the Cincinnati Bengals to new heights: They’ve gone to two AFC title games and one Super Bowl in his five seasons as the starter.
Burrow has played the game at a high level in the NFL for nearly a half of a decade, so if anyone knows what it takes to be a great quarterback, it’s him. During his first training camp press conference this week, Burrow was actually asked what separates the good quarterbacks from the great quarterbacks and his answer was surprisingly simple. It’s not accuracy, it’s not arm strength, nope. Burrow said there’s one thing that separates the good ones from the great ones.
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“I think consistency is what it is at the end of the day,” Burrow said. “Anyone can go out and do it for a game, a couple games, four games, five games, but can you do it for 17 games? Can you do it for years and years in a row? I think that’s ultimately what separates the great ones from the good ones.”
Burrow’s answer actually makes a lot of sense. If you’re a quarterback and you play consistently good football in the NFL, you’re going to have a job for a long time. Some quarterbacks will show flashes of talent, but they’re not able to show those flashes on a consistent basis.
One example is Bryce Young. After getting benched following a Week 2 loss last year, Young returned to the lineup in Week 8 and played solid football that culminated in a brilliant Week 18 performance that saw him throw for 251 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-38 win over the Falcons. Young finished with a QB rating of 123.5, but consistency was definitely an issue for him. That Week 18 performance was one of just three games all year where his QB rating was above 95. On the other hand, Burrow finished with a QB rating above 95 in 13 of his 17 starts.
Trevor Lawrence is another quarterback who has shown flashes, but hasn’t been able to consistently produce. Lawrence, who was taken with the first overall pick in 2021, led the Jaguars to the playoffs in his second year as a starter, but he’s fallen off since then. Lawrence is just 2-13 in his past 15 starts and a big reason for that is because he’s played inconsistent football.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who’s also been to two conference title games and a Super Bowl in his short career, agrees with Burrow. Purdy started to understand how important consistency was after getting some words of wisdom from teammate George Kittle.
“He goes, ‘Brocky, at the end of the day, you just have to be more consistent than the guy across from you and do better, longer,” Purdy said of what Kittle told him.
The best quarterbacks know they have to be consistent, which might sound easy, but nothing comes easy in the NFL. Being a good quarterback in the NFL is difficult enough, being a great quarterback is even harder, which is why there’s only a small list of quarterbacks playing right now who qualify as great.
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Author: John Breech
July 24, 2025 | 2:15 pm
