CINCINNATI, OHIO - NOVEMBER 12: Joe Burrow #9 of the Cincinnati Bengals warms up before the game against the Houston Texans at Paycor Stadium on November 12, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have ruled the NFL to the tune of three Super Bowl championships over the past five years, so it’s no surprise that Cincinnati Bengals signal-caller Joe Burrow recently called them “the gold standard right now.”

“They’re the gold standard right now,” Burrow told ESPN’s Ben Baby on Sunday. “They’ve been to what, six straight AFC championships and four of the last [five] Super Bowls?

“So that’s where we want to be.”

The Chiefs would have won five straight AFC titles if not for Burrow and the Bengals, who beat the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Championship. Cincinnati nearly won again the following year in the conference title game before the Chiefs won on a game-ending field goal.

Before this season, a Chiefs-Bengals AFC title game trilogy seemed possible, but Burrow suffered a preseason calf injury that slowed his start. He got hot in the middle of the year, but a season-ending torn wrist ligament ending his campaign after 10 games.

However, a healthy Burrow return should put the Bengals right back in the AFC mix. Mahomes and the Chiefs are the gold standard, but a host of teams and top quarterbacks are still hot on their heels, hoping to take down the kings of the hill.

Still, Mahomes has proven to be near-impossible to beat. Two of his three playoff losses have come against a seven-time Super Bowl champion in Tom Brady. The other was versus Burrow, a fantastic player with a very bright future.

Otherwise, Mahomes has led his teams to Super Bowl wins. With one more, he’ll join Brady, Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only starting quarterbacks to ever win four or more Super Bowls.