When Skip Bayless drew wild Joe Burrow-Macaulay Culkin comparision ahead of Super Bowl LVI - "He's trying to be cool"
Super Bowl LVI has so far been the biggest game of Joe Burrow's career. After a knee injury ended his rookie season early, he returned in 2021 to shock the world with his accuracy, leading the league in completion percentage and yards per attempt and returning the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1980's.
But ahead of that game, Skip Bayless apparently wanted to steer away from his award-winning comeback season. Speaking on his eponymous show, he decided to compare Burrow to Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin, specifically how he was not as cool as he tried to portray himself as:
"There's something about Joe Burrow that comes across as a kid who's not naturally cool, who's trying to be cool. It comes across like Macaulay Culkin... That character, obviously, when his parents and siblings left him behind home alone, began to try to do cool adult things that he wasn't really that cool at. And that's Joe to me now."
Where did the Joe Burrow-Macaulay Culkin comparison rumors come from?
The Bengals ultimately lost 20-23 to the Los Angeles Rams, after Burrow lost his "cool" in the face of Aaron Donald on a fourth-and-1 with under a minute left.
Where did the Joe Burrow-Macaulay Culkin comparison rumors originate?
The comparisons to Macaulay Culkin began in late 2019, when Joe Burrow was still playing collegiately at Louisiana State University. After the Tigers defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 63-28 at the Peach Bowl, fans could not help but see that the quarterback resembled the actor in his youth:
Joe Burrow is the kid from Home Alone btw. #CFBPlayoff https://t.co/7nL5ngOTbf
Joe Burrow be like.....😂😂 https://t.co/dkZh5vmp8e
Joe Burrow hasn't been that dominant since he was Home Alone in New York. #joeburrow https://t.co/kXbkiaUtkP
Joe Burrow played great in the Home Alone movies
The Daily Advertiser, a newspaper in Lafayette, even wrote:
One thing is certain: (Joe) Burrow had just as much fun scoring eight touchdowns Saturday against Oklahoma as Kevin McAllister defending his house against the Wet Bandits.
And in 2021, during Burrow's comeback performance, Good Morning Football posted this on Twitter:
We're not saying @JoeyB and Kevin McCallister are the same person but have you ever seen them in the same room..? Just gives you something to think about.. https://t.co/VTIeF7pxRz
Which other Hollywood stars has Joe Burrow been compared to?
As it turns out, Joe Burrow facially resembles a few more Hollywood stars - not just a young Macaulay Culkin. More than two months ago, former NFL quarterback and current analyst Robert Griffin III compared the Cincinnati leader to Bill Skarsgard, or more specifically Marquis Vincent de Gramont, his character in (and the main antagonist of) John Wick 4:
Watching John Wick 4 right now and Joe Burrow is acting his a** off. https://t.co/drkpgGCEuW
Burrow has also drawn comparisons to High School Musical star Lucas Grabeel:
You’re telling me Joe Burrow isn’t just Lucas Grabeel wearing a Bengals jersey https://t.co/KWy3VtTvV1