Can Burrow be the first quarterback to win the Heisman, National Championship and Super Bowl?

Joe Burrow is winning over football fans around the league one pass, one game, and one press conference at a time. With a win over the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday, he will not only make his way into the hearts of even NFL fanatics, but will also make his way into football folklore by doing something that has never been done before.

Burrow taking the NFL by storm

It’s hard to hate a guy like Joe Burrow. The mild mannered, stoic persona on the field is matched with a swaggy pregame fashion sens and a youthful exuberance in press conferences that makes him one of the most likable guys around the league.

But in Cincinnati they like him not just for what he does off the field. They are quickly falling in love with Joe in the Queen City because he is a gamer.

Cincy took a chance on Burrow with the first pick after a National Championship winning season in which he won the Heisman Trophy and broke the single season touchdown record in the NCAA with 60 in just 15 games.

Last year was a rough one for Burrow and the Bengals. They went 4-11-1, and the then rookie quarterback suffered a season ending knee injury in Week 11 of the regular season.

The baby faced gun slinger has the Bengals a game away from their first Super Bowl in franchise history, and if he hoists the Lombardi Trophy on the 13th of February he will become the first football player to have won the Heisman Trophy, the College Football National Championship, and a Super Bowl.

That in itself is incredible. Hell, it has never been done in the history of the sport. But what is most incredible is that he has a chance to do all this with in three years of each other. Take into account that he spent half of one of those years rehabbing from a devastating knee injury, and you really start to understand why he is so universally liked even outside of Baton Rouge and Cincinnati.

Closest contenders to the football triple crown

While no one has ever achieved the triple crown of a National Title, a Heisman Trophy and a Super Bowl there have been a few quarterback that have checked off two of the three boxes.

Only two quarterbacks in the history of the league have ever won championships at the college and professional level.

The first to do it was Joe Namath after winning the National Championship in 1965 and then the Super Bowl four years later. Namath lead the Alabama Crimson Tide to a perfect 11-0 season, but was not even on the ballot for the Heisman Trophy. Four years later “Broadway Joe” led the New York Jets to Super Bowl III and defeated the Baltimore Colts to become the first quarterback to win a title on at both levels.

Joe and Joe both won NCAA and NFL titiles

In 1977 another Joe exploded on the scene winning a National Championship with the University of Notre Dame. Joe Montana ended an 11-1 season with a 38-10 win over the Texas Longhorns, and the legend of “Joe Cool” began.

In 1982 Montana led the San Francisco to his first and the 49ers first Super Bowl ever, joining Namath as the only two quarterbacks to ever have won a both titles.

Jim Plunkett and Roger Staubach had spectacular seasons at the college level which led them both earning Heisman Trophy honors by season’s end. While both went on to win Super Bowls later in their careers, the National Championship eluded them in their time in college.

Plunkett threw for 18 touchdowns and 2,715 yards in his Heisman season, but the Stanford Cardinal went 9-3 on the year falling short of the National Championship.

Staubach won the Hiesman Trophy as the United States Naval Academy in 1963. That season he led the Midshipmen to a 9-2 record and finished the season as the second ranked team in the land.

 Joe Burrow looks like he'll have plenty of time to become the first one to win the triple crown, but the Cincy fans will be hoping Burrow brings them their first NFL title next Sunday.