Will Nick Chubb running the ball 350 times take the Browns to the top?

Super Bowl LVI: Los Angeles vs. Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow shocked the NFL by taking down the Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans, and vaunted Kansas City Chiefs en route to facing the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl. That's where the streak would end, as the Rams took the 23-20 win with a huge play from Aaron Donald.

L.A. decided that Jared Goff wasn't the guy to get them to NFL supremacy, so they chose to trade for Matthew Stafford. Stafford would come in to lead the fifth-ranked passing attack and the seventh-highest-scoring team in the NFL.

He threw for 4,886 yards and 41 touchdowns in his first season with L.A. The running game was led by Sony Michel (845 yards) and Darrell Henderson (688 yards) totaling 1,683 yards to finish 25th in the NFL.

The Joe Burrow-led Bengals also finished seventh in scoring offense. Burrow took his game to the next level in 2021, throwing for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns to lead the seventh-ranked passing attack. Joe Mixon anchored the run game with 1,205 yards and 13 touchdowns. The rushing attack would rank only 23rd in the NFL.

Super Bowl LVII: Kansas City vs. Philadelphia

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs find their way back to the Super Bowl for the third time in four years. In a thriller against up-and-coming Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs won out with a 38-35 victory.

Kansas City started the year with a committee of backs with hopes that former first-rounder Clyde Edwards-Helaire would lead the way. In the end, the Chiefs would find a leading back for the 31st-ranked ground game in Isiah Pacheco with 830 yards. It feels like every year Andy Reid can find a ground game from someone to compliment Mahomes and the passing attack.

The Eagles had the fifth-best ground game behind their young stud quarterback and star back Miles Sanders. Sanders paced the team with 1,269 yards on the ground, with Hurts tossing another 760 for good measure scoring seven rushing touchdowns. He also threw 22 touchdowns to only six interceptions for the explosive Eagles offense.

What are the totals out of 28 teams?

Top 10 rushing attacks: 13

Top 10 passing attack: 16

1,000 yard rushers: 11

QBs playing at elite levels: 11

What it takes in this league to get to the top of the mountain is an elite quarterback. In the last 14 Super Bowls, only one team with an elite running back won it all. They had Russell Wilson at quarterback.

Having Nick Chubb is fantastic, but running him 350 times a year will not take you to a Super Bowl. While having a good ground game can help you get there nearly every team with a great back had to have great to elite quarterback play also. The Browns need Deshaun Watson to be the elite quarterback he once was.

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