Joe Burrow still dealing with pinkie injury, gives jersey to Kid Cudi

It’s been two months since Joe Burrow injured his right pinkie finger in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Yes, it’s still dislocated. No, it hasn’t stopped the Cincinnati Bengals from going to the Super Bowl.

Eight games has Burrow played with the discomfort. It’s not going to officially go away for a little while, but leading up to the biggest game of his life, Cincinnati’s quarterback says it’s not playing football when he feels it.

Burrow told media members this week that he doesn’t notice it throwing the football.

Not only has the injury disappeared from injury reports, it’s disappeared from the conversation of on-field play. No one could tell he was dealing with it when he led the NFL in yards, yards per attempt, and completion percentage from Weeks 14-17. He’s seamlessly adjusted to it in the most important games, and he’s got one more to go.

Why we’ve stopped talking about the pinkie has to do with the essence of Burrow. For some quarterbacks, that injury would be the main reason why certain things didn’t go their way. It’s simply become a minor obstacle in the grand scheme of things for Burrow.

The kind of quarterback and person Burrow is attracts fans from all backgrounds and allegiances, even those up near Cleveland. Burrow said after the Chiefs game that Cleveland-native rapper Kid Cudi reached out to him that day. Burrow grew up listening to Cudi and still does before games, so Burrow sent his idol his game-worn jersey from the AFC Championship, which promoted Cudi to respond.

Should a Cleveland Browns fan be awarded a historic piece of Bengals memorabilia? That isn’t for us to decide. Cudi recognizes greatness, and that’s all that should matter.