| Super Bowl 2022: Los Angeles Rams v Cincinnati Bengals |
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| Venue: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood Date: Sunday, 13 February Kick-off: 23:30 GMT |
| Live safety: Watch on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, and online; Listen to commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live; Live textual content material and in-play clips on the BBC Sport website and app. |
One technique or one different, it’s going to be a Hollywood ending to an enthralling NFL season with Super Bowl 56 set to current each the last word act of an actual underdog story or the completion of a daring all-star gamble.
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The Los Angeles Rams went all-in in assembling an all-star solid to be sure that they carried out the Super Bowl of their magnificent new home stadium, nevertheless, no particular person was anticipating the Cincinnati Bengals, 125-1 outsiders at first of the season, to be lining up in the direction of them.
With one different bumper set of all-stars set to make the half-time current a blockbuster too, it’s all organized to be a night like no completely different in Los Angeles.
The underdogs in the direction of the all stars
Absolutely no particular person fancied the Bengals, with merely six wins in two earlier seasons blended, to make it this far – and really, no workforce has ever had a worse doc inside the two years sooner than making the Super Bowl.
But this yr all of it clicked. With second-yr quarterback Joe Burrow reunited with college workforce-mate Ja’Marr Chase, the Bengals have been an attacking workforce stuffed with highlight-reel massive performs.
Burrow and Chase aside, the Bengals have a squad further in line with a low-key franchise that has in no way gained the Super Bowl and went 31 years without even profitable a playoff recreation until this season.
By distinction, given that Rams moved once more to LA from St Louis in 2016 they’ve truly taken the Hollywood theme to coronary heart, embarking on a daring plan of blockbuster trades to usher in established star avid gamers in vital positions.
They have carried out 4 Super Bowls of their 86-yr historic previous – having begun life in Cleveland in 1936, they moved to LA inside the Nineteen Forties, and to St Louis inside the mid-90s, sooner than returning to LA – nevertheless have gained only one, in 2000.
They have now put down eternal roots inside the City of Angels. Owner Stan Kroenke splashed out $5bn to assemble the beautiful SoFi Stadium and convey the Super Bowl once more to LA, the place it was first staged in 1967 sooner than the game was even typically known as the Super Bowl – for some trigger ‘the AFL-NFL World Championship Game’ did not catch on as a title.
The Rams closing had a major-spherical draft determined in 2016 and are subsequently scheduled one in 2024. Instead, they’ve older avid gamers on massive wages pushing the wage cap to the limit, however, it certainly’s all part of their win-now mentality.
It’s an enchanting technique from Kroenke, who has not exactly demonstrated the identical creativeness and prescient at Arsenal, as Gunners followers will let you realize. Most followers in north London will in all probability be about as happy with Kroenke’s Rams success on Sunday as Manchester United followers have been with reference to the Glazer’s profitable closing yr’s Super Bowl with Tampa Bay.
Two excessive picks, two excessive receivers and two shut head coaches
Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow are solely the second pair of quarterbacks every picked major complete inside the draft to meet inside the Super Bowl.
A decade with struggling Detroit gave Stafford little chance to shine, nevertheless, the reality is the Rams paid such an extreme worth for a 34-yr-outdated current merely how decided they’ve been to win a Super Bowl. He merely has to ship in a recreation that may define his occupation.
Burrow is in merely his second yr nevertheless walks and talks like an individual destined for the massive stage – and his 7-0 doc in playoff video games in class and the NFL current you he typically delivers when the stakes are highest.
He’s sturdy – he has recovered from brutal knee hurt and been sacked further events than one other QB inside the league this season, nevertheless, he retains on getting up to win. His presence on the sector is with reference to the closest chances are you’ll get to that of Tom Brady – who, by the way in which, gained his first Super Bowl in his second season and as a large underdog.
At the large receiver, you should have the Rams’ Cooper Kupp – coming off a season when he topped the charts in catches, yards, and touchdowns – in the direction of Bengals rookie Chase, who has taken the league by storm. Both look unstoppable at events and each could very nicely be a recreation-winner.
There could be intrigue on the sidelines, the place Rams head coach Sean McVay goes up in the direction of a former assistant in Bengals boss Zac Taylor – who was on LA’s employees for his or her closing Super Bowl look three years up to now. That inside info could doubtlessly give Taylor an edge.
Don’t go to mattress too shortly – this may go all the way in which by which
It’s been a nail-biting season all yr, with a doc 35 video games gained on the ultimate play of the game and all 4 matches in a crazy divisional spherical of the play-offs settled by stroll-off wins.
The Bengals had two stroll-off wins to get to the Super Bowl and are recognized for his or her second-half comebacks, with experience for making tactical changes on the break.
They outscored opponents by a league-best 73 elements inside the third quarter over the season, and as they confirmed with an infinite wobble in the direction of Brady’s defending champions the Buccaneers, the Rams can battle to kill video games off.
With an extra-prolonged half-time interval for Taylor to work his tactical magic, do not go switching this one off early.
Speaking of half-time… what a gift in retailer!
As the Super Bowl returns to Los Angeles for the first time in just about 30 years, the NFL has pulled out all the stops with a bumper half-time current that may operate, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and Dr. Dre.
With 43 Grammys between them, it’s one different all-star solid for this Hollywood epic, and a homecoming for Lamar, Dre, and Snoop Dogg.
Super Bowl stats to impress your friends
- After 54 years with no workforce having fun with a Super Bowl at home, the Rams are the second on the bounce after the Buccaneers gained in Tampa closing yr.
- This is just the second time two QBs who’ve been major complete picks inside the draft have met inside the Super Bowl – Payton Manning and Cam Newton have been the first, at Super Bowl 50.
- The Bengals have carried out in two earlier Super Bowls, dropping every to the 49ers, whereas the Rams have gained definitely one in every of their 4 earlier appearances.
- With Bengals head coach Zac Taylor aged 38 and reverse amount Sean McVay 36, that’s the youngest head educating Super Bowl match-up of all time.
- If the Rams win, Sean McVay could be the youngest ever Super Bowl profitable head coach, beating the doc held by Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin who gained aged 36 years and 323 days.
- The pre-match betting underdogs have gained six of the earlier 10 Super Bowls.
- This is the first Super Bowl since 1975 not to have a major or second seed collaborating. Both teams have been seeded 4 of their conference so there’ll in all probability be a fourth seed as Super Bowl champs for the first time since Baltimore in 2012.
- If the Rams beat the Bengals, they’re going to grow to be the third franchise to win Super Bowls whereas being positioned in two cities, after the Colts – Baltimore and Indianapolis – and the Raiders, who’ve gained whereas in Oakland and Los Angeles.
