It isn’t the only prestigious NFL award for which voters are drawn to winners. Running back Chris Johnson was the last Offensive Player of the Year to miss the playoffs, in 2009, when Tennessee finished 8-8. That is also the worst record for any team to produce an Offensive Player of the Year, according to NBC Sports Research.

In both MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, then, a .500 or better record has been the baseline. That hasn’t stopped the drumbeat behind Burrow’s candidacy from building.

“He without a doubt should be MVP,” Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parsons said this week on his podcast, “The Edge with Micah Parsons.” For Parsons, the key was the context that Burrow had done all that despite injuries to the team’s defense and both of its starting offensive tackles, whose jobs involve protecting quarterbacks from defenders rushing around the offensive line’s edge.

“He looks unstoppable right now,” Parsons said. “His timing, precision. Everything. If you ask anybody in the league right now, it ain’t just me. We’ve talked about it in the locker room. We said Joe Burrow is the best quarterback we faced. And we played Lamar this year.” 

During this week’s “Monday Night Football” broadcast, former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman also said he would choose Burrow if he had an MVP vote. (Aikman’s appreciation for Burrow is well-documented: In early December, he also called Burrow “maybe my favorite player of all time.”)

At a time when suspense is in short supply around the NFL, with just two of the league’s 14 playoff berths still up for grabs, the MVP race is one of few last areas of intrigue. Bettors still anticipate Allen as the favorite to win his first MVP, after his 41 total touchdowns and career-low six interceptions pushed the Bills to a 13-3 record and the No. 2 seed in the AFC despite a receiving corps many analysts in the preseason believed was depleted of playmakers. By handing top-seeded Kansas City its only loss, and scoring touchdowns in both historic ways and amounts late in the season, Allen has produced moments that are difficult for voters to ignore.

In Baltimore, Jackson has 43 total touchdowns, leads the league with 14 pass plays of 40 yards or longer and has produced his most accurate season as a passer while helping the 11-5 Ravens clinch a division title. And Barkley last week became only the ninth player in NFL history to surpass 2,000 rushing yards in a season, and is 101 yards away from owning the all-time single-season record.

According to odds analyzed by Covers, Burrow has the fourth-best odds in most sportsbooks. Burrow’s statistics speak for themselves. Yet so, too, does his team’s standing as third in its own division. Burrow is trying to avoid the distinction of becoming the first quarterback since Russell Wilson, in 2017, to lead the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns but miss the playoffs.

Asked about the MVP race this week, Burrow told reporters, “I’ll win one one day.” But he said he doubted it would be this season. 

“Usually, you’ve got to win your division,” he said. “That’s how it’s voted. I don’t necessarily disagree with it, I would say.”