Joe Burrow is often described as one of the NFL's most cool quarterbacks under pressure. So when Scott Kacsmar posted a statistic last week that Burrow is 1-34 when trailing at any point in the final eight minutes, it was bound to get attention. It's an ugly number, and it's also accurate.
Burrow's lone win in that situation came in 2022 at New Orleans. The other 34 times, the Bengals came up short.
The stat includes Burrow's two postseason losses and excludes two games where he suffered season-ending injuries. There isn't much arguing with the number itself, but there's plenty of room for context.
Trailing at any point with eight minutes or left remaining covers a wide range of situations. Put all those situations into one bucket, you have 1-34 and all the discourse that comes with it. Break them apart, and Burrow's late-game resume becomes considerably more complicated. Here are some numbers to consider.
9: Number of Bengals double-digit losses
Start with nine of the easiest games to reconsider when talking about 1-34. In nine of those contests, the Bengals were trailing by double figures in the fourth quarter. You think of Burrow's rookie season in Baltimore. Don "Wink" Martindale's defense (seven sacks) had a first-year quarterback running for his life. The Bengals trailed 27-0 with eight minutes left.
The other games: 2020 at Pittsburgh (36-10), 2021 vs. Cleveland (41-16), 2021 vs. L.A. (41-22), 2022 at Cleveland (32-13), 2023 at Tennessee (27-3), 2024 vs. Philadelphia (37-17), 2025 vs. Baltimore (24-0).
They all count toward 1-34, but it's hard to factor those games into the clutch discussion.
4: Number of times the Bengals didn't trail until the game was essentially over
In Bengals losses at Kansas City in the 2022 AFC Championship Game and in 2024, the Bengals didn't trail in the final eight minutes until Harrison Butker's game-winning field goals. The playoff loss was with three seconds left. The 2024 loss was at the gun.
9: Times Burrow gave Bengals the lead or tied game in final 8 minutes
"Since I've been here, I've never doubted Joe," Bengals defensive lineman T.J. Slaton Jr. said.
Slaton got his first NFL sack of Burrow as a Packer in a wild 2021 meeting in Cincinnati. Slaton was on the Green Bay defense when Burrow marched the Bengals 75 yards for the game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion with 3:27 remaining. Chaos ensued with five combined missed field goals before the Packers prevailed in overtime, 25-22.
That's one of nine games with Burrow the Bengals tied or took the lead in the final eight minutes.
5: Times where Bengals never had a chance to tie or take lead
There are five one-possession losses where the Bengals never had the ball in the final eight minutes with a chance to tie or take the lead. The Bengals scored touchdowns on 9 of 15 combined fourth-quarter drives in those games.
8: The most relevant group in the 1-34 discussion
You're left with eight games where Burrow failed to lead the Bengals in crunch time of a close loss. It starts in his NFL debut in 2020, when a game-winning touchdown was negated and Randy Bullock missed a chip shot against the Chargers.
There are certainly times Burrow didn't deliver. You have costly fourth-quarter turnovers against the Colts (2020), Bills (2025) and Steelers last Sunday. The Super Bowl heartbreak against the Rams and times where the Bengals punted the ball away down the stretch (2021 at Jets, 2024 vs. Patriots).
Clutch moments beyond 1-34
Pro Football Reference credits Burrow with 11 career game-winning drives. Burrow setting up Evan McPherson for five game-winning field goals during the 2021 Super Bowl run (Minnesota, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Tennessee, Kansas City) won't count toward 1-34. The Bengals didn't trail in the final eight minutes.
"That's such a dumb stat," said Mike Gesicki, who was on the Dolphins when Burrow's Bengals scored 13 unanswered fourth-quarter points for a 27-15 win in 2022. "He's the best quarterback in the world. I saw the stat and was like, 'that's stupid' and kept scrolling. Just somebody trying to get clicks."
Gesicki enjoyed former teammate Ryan Fitzpatrick's breakdown of 1-34. Fitzpatrick noted that Burrow is 18-for-27 when he has the ball with less than four minutes left with a chance to tie or take the lead.
What do you ultimately take away from 1-34? Burrow has been extraordinarily unsuccessful at the eight-minute threshold. But there's a lot of fat to trim from that sample size.
The stat is real, but so are the comebacks and game-winning drives that don't fit an arbitrary eight-minute cutoff. The fairest conclusion probably isn't that 1-34 proves Burrow is or isn't clutch. It's the starting point for the conversation, not far from the end of it.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The 1-34 Joe Burrow stat is real, but doesn't tell the whole story
