NFL QB Rankings Week 18: Joe Burrow stakes his claim among league's best

The quarterback rankings heading into Week 18 tell the tale of the 2021 NFL season. The MVP race is heating up as well and the top signal-callers all have a claim for the award.

The final week of the regular season is here and the top quarterbacks in the NFL are all looking to make noise in the postseason. Here's how the rankings stack up ahead of the first Week 18 in NFL history.

Week 17 NFL QB rankings #5-#4

#5 - Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Last Ranking: Unranked

Patrick Mahomes has had a nice stretch of play after an uncharacteristically slow start to his season. He most recently had 259 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

While that is average for Mahomes, he now has 4,569 yards and 35 touchdowns this season. That has him near the top of the NFL leaderboards and are not pedestrian numbers by any means. In his last four games alone, he has 10 touchdowns and only one interception. The Kansas City Chiefs are 3-1 in that stretch.

Ended the year on a high note 🎉 Congratulations @PatrickMahomes! https://t.co/zUREW6fvM2

Week 18 quarterback rankings have to take the entire season into account. In a few years, Mahomes' current stats will be good enough for MVP consideration. The Chiefs are also 11-5 and still have a chance to claim the top spot in the AFC.

Mahomes has just built up expectations so high that anything other than routine four-touchdown performances seems like a letdown.

#4 - Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals

Last Ranking: #5

Joe Burrow shows up a spot above Mahomes after winning the Week 17 duel between the two sides. Burrow has to be included among the best quarterbacks in the NFL after his past two games.

Week 16 saw Burrow absolutely light up the Baltimore Ravens defense. He finished with 525 yards and four touchdowns in a dominating 41-21 win. Would he slow down in Week 17? Not quite, as he finished with 446 yards and four touchdowns in a thrilling victory over the Chiefs.

He connected with Ja'Marr Chase for 266 of those yards and also three touchdowns. There was simply nothing the Chiefs defense could do to stop the dynamic duo out of LSU. That has mostly been true of NFL defenses all season.

Ja'Marr Chase is filthy ⚡

Nasty juke move 😳

(via @NFL)
https://t.co/E7WCVkv0sd

Burrow is only in his second season and his first was cut short due to a knee injury. Throwing for nearly 1,000 yards in two weeks against top AFC contenders proves he is among the best at his position in the NFL. Oh, he also led the Bengals to an AFC North crown as well. He should be atop the weekly rankings for years to come at this rate.