The past few seasons have brought to the NFL an eternal optimism that, even without a classic, archetypal franchise quarterback, some kind of player-friendly schematic breakthrough can mask enough of a quarterback’s deficiencies to keep a team functioning at a playoff level.
It has also brought with it Joe Burrow, who, after Saturday’s 26–19 wild-card win over the Raiders, which gave the Bengals their first playoff win since 1991, proves that there is no greater lift to a moribund franchise than the arrival of an archetypal franchise quarterback.
We’re at a strange time in the position, where a wider array of possibilities have afforded coaches a broader spectrum of options from which they can win games.