NFL betting: Joe Burrow has been money in big games throughout his career

Joe Burrow has been a household name in the football world since the 2019 college football season. Since that point, Burrow has won an SEC Championship, a national championship and the Heisman Trophy. He parlayed that into becoming the first overall pick of the NFL draft in 2020. After that, Burrow went on to the win the AFC last season. It has been a meteoric rise for the current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback.

What makes Burrow extra special is that he has been great to bettors over his career. That's not always the case with elite quarterbacks. There's no denying that Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in football, but the Kansas City Chiefs were a terrible bet this season. However, from college, up until now, Burrow has been lining the pockets of bettors who have backed him.

It all started at LSU

The 2019 LSU Tigers was one of the best teams we've seen in college football history. They went 15-0 en route to winning the national championship. They beat seven top-10 teams that season, the most in FBS history. That entire season, not once did an opposing team have the ball with a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Burrow won the Heisman and set single-season records for Power Five play. He was throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase. Despite all the hype, talent and success that team had, they were still good to bettors.

In November of that season, Burrow and LSU took a trip to Alabama where they were 5.5-point underdogs against the Crimson Tide. LSU won the game outright by a score of 46-41, thanks to 393 passing yards and three touchdowns from Burrow. That win set the stage for LSU to meet Georgia in the SEC championship game. Burrow threw for 349 yards and four touchdowns as LSU won 37-10 as a touchdown favorite.

In the College Football Playoff semifinals, No. 1 LSU was a 12.5-point favorite over Jalen Hurts and Oklahoma. Burrow threw seven touchdown passes in the first half as LSU won 63-28. In the national championship, Burrow's LSU team was a 4.5-point favorite over Trevor Lawrence and Clemson. Burrow had 463 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-25 victory.

Last season was magical

Burrow missed most of his rookie NFL season after he tore his ACL. He returned in 2021 and led the Cincinnati Bengals to the AFC North title. Cincinnati was expected to be one of the worst teams in the league entering last season, but they shocked the world and exceeded all expectations. They rode that momentum into the playoffs.

In the postseason, the Bengals covered as 6.5-point favorites in the wild-card round against the Las Vegas Raiders. In the divisional round, Cincinnati won outright as a 4.5-point underdog on the road against the Tennessee Titans.

In the AFC championship game, Cincinnati was a sizable 7.5-point underdog on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs. Cincinnati erased a 21-3 first-half deficit and outscored Kansas City 17-3 in the second half to pull off the upset. Burrow had 250 yards and two touchdowns.

Entering the Super Bowl, the Bengals were 4.5-point underdogs against the Los Angeles Rams. While the Rams won the game, the Bengals covered the spread, losing the game by a score of 23-20.

Burrow and the Bengals went 4-0 against the spread in the playoffs and won two games outright as a betting underdog. Burrow continued to line bettors' pockets in big game.

Bengals were really good against the number this season

With raised expectations entering the season, Cincinnati wasn't going to sneak up on anybody. They were the defending AFC champions and were expected to compete for their division and be a playoff team. Despite the raised expectations, they found a way to consistently outperform their expectations all season long.

Cincinnati went 12-4 against the spread this season. Only the New York Giants had a better record against the spread this season. The Bengals failed to cover the spread in their first two games of the season but then went on to cover the number in 12 of their next 13 games.

Overall, Joe Burrow is now 32-15 against the spread in his NFL career. He has covered the number in 68% of games he has started and in every playoff start of his career.

Burrow and the Bengals are 8-point home favorites over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night.