Bengals or Rams? Tom Collins analyses the Super Bowl LVI matchup

Elite playcalling, highlight reel touchdowns, stout defensive stands and clutch special teams plays combine to create a winning team. The Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams have proved this year that they have the best mixture of components in the NFL and they face their date with destiny on Sunday as they square off in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in California.

The 2021-22 season kicked off with an enthralling battle between the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in early September, which saw 60 total points put up by the offenses and set the year off on the right note. Both sides immediately entered the NFC race to the Super Bowl, but neither made it.

Tom Brady and the Buccaneers were long considered leading players in the conference, along with the Matt LaFleur-coached Green Bay Packers, but impressive regular season records doesn’t equal Super Bowl contenders - you have to do it in the Playoffs and both teams fell short. Buccaneers’ loss brought an end to Tom Brady’s playing career, while Packers’ defeat to the 49ers could be the last time that Aaron Rodgers plays for the Cheeseheads. 

While those teams struggled, the Rams excelled. A dominant 34-11 victory over the Cardinals in the Wild Card round, revenging a disappointing divisional defeat during the regular season, was followed by a last-gasp and dramatic success over the aforementioned Buccaneers. 

After racking up a significant early lead, the writing appeared on the wall for Los Angeles in that matchup when Leonard Fournette ran into the endzone for a nine-yard score with 46 seconds left. But Cooper Kupp doesn’t play by the rules and back-to-back catches led the Rams into field goal territory. Matt Gay did the rest.

It was very much the opposite in the conference championship as the Rams found themselves down big early on, but it was those guys again - Cooper Kupp and Matt Gay - who put points on the board to secure a 20-17 victory. Offensive skill players tend to make the headlines, but a couple of noteworthy free agent pickups, quarterback Matthew Stafford and linebacker Von Miller, have played a large part in the Rams success this year.

For a team that has made the playoffs on 31 occasions in their history, just five NFC Championship titles and one Super Bowl win suggests the Rams have tended to underachieve when the pressure is on. A second Super Bowl would eradicate those thoughts. 

The Cincinnati Bengals were given little chance this season - rightly so based on last year’s showing. Under then rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, the Bengals showed glimpses of promise but ended the campaign with just four wins and a tie from 16 games, and an injured signal caller. You could describe their season in one word: carnage. 

Burrow, who was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2020 draft, sustained a torn ACL and MCL against the Washington Football Team midway through their week 11 encounter and entered a long recovery process throughout the spring and summer.

Knee injuries aren’t easy to come back from, especially for a quarterback whose ability to run when a play appeared dead got his team out of trouble on numerous occasions. But come back Burrow did - and with a bang. The LSU alumni started all 16 regular season games, throwing for 34 touchdowns with 14 interceptions, and caused an almighty shock by leading the Bengals to the AFC North title.

A team with a habit of throwing it away in the post-season, the Bengals weren’t fancied to progress much further than the wildcard round. That was a pretty foolish assumption, in hindsight. Victory over the Raiders was rewarded with a Wildcard road matchup against the Titans and despite being sacked on nine occasions, Burrow led them to a 19-16 win as the underdogs. 

That was Cincinnati’s first road playoff success in their history and they quickly doubled that tally by denying Super Bowl favourites, the Kansas City Chiefs, at Arrowhead two weeks ago. Burrow has played lights out all year, but so has wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who has 14 touchdowns and 101 receptions leading into the game that stops the nation. Plenty of Bengals hopes rely on the young LSU duo.

VERDICT

If only we offered a market on songs performed during the halftime show as ‘I Need A Doctor’ is a nigh-on certainty with Eminem and Dr Dre among the performers! Unfortunately that’s not the case (even if it was, it would be a 1.01 job), so let's focus on the game at hand.

Everything points towards the Rams. They have home-field advantage; a unique and phenomenal head coach; a gunslinging quarterback who is desperate for his first Super Bowl ring; the best receiver in the league, and an elite defence that can stop both the run and the pass. 

It is difficult to envisage total points not being covered given the high-octane offences - 48.5pts is an attractive line - but the Rams should have too much firepower for Joe Burrow and the Bengals and I expect them to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy. 

For those looking for another play, look at the total sacks market. If LA can get out to an early lead, which is a distinct possibility, then it is entirely plausible that Aaron Donald and Von Miller will begin to bear down on Joe Burrow.

Recommended bets:
Los Angeles Rams -5 @ 2.08
Over 48.5pts @ 1.89
Over 5.5 sacks @ 1.88