The Buffalo Bills, under quarterback Josh Allen, have been one of the most consistent teams over the past couple of seasons.
With the Bills making the playoffs seem routine, the lack of playoff success has always been the one blight on Allen's resume. But this year, he won two playoff games and made it to his second AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Buffalo would lose, making it four straight times Allen and Co. have failed to slay Patrick Mahomes, and that is a big reason for the criticism aimed at Josh and the Bills.
But Allen's MVP win was a big boost for those thinking that he isn't an elite quarterback. However, general manager Brandon Beane, who was a guest on the Pat McAfee Show, stated that even with the award, Allen still has that chip on his shoulder.
"Junior college, emailing all these coaches to get a scholarship, gets one offer at Wyoming," Beane said on the Pat McAfee Show. "We know all the people that were questioning 'could he play quarterback at the NFL?' He gets drafted where he was drafted. He was criticized, we were criticized for doing it.
"He never wavered, he took the criticism. He's always had that chip. Doing our research, this young man, he had a chip long before people were giving him reasons to have a chip. He's got a chip now, as excited as he was and honored to win the MVP. He knows and we know the ultimate goal is to win a championship. That didn't remove any chip winning the MVP."
It is true. We look at Lamar Jackson and the MVPs he's won, but we always come back to the playoff failures and no Super Bowl win.
That is the same for Allen.
Until both win that first elusive championship, the naysayers will always have fuel to keep pushing both quarterbacks down, despite them clearly being viewed as two of the best in football.
At the end of the day, quarterbacks are ultimately judged on one thing - Super Bowl wins, and while the MVP win was nice for Josh, he still knows he won't be able to shake that narrative surrounding him until he hoists that Lombardi trophy.
