Super Bowl LVI Preview: Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams

The Super Bowl is now only days away, and with that, we take a look ahead at the two teams competing to determine the Champion of the 2021-2022 NFL Season. 

The Cincinnati Bengals will head to SoFi Stadium in LA to take on the Rams in their own home stadium. After never having happened in the previous 54 Super Bowls, now the last two have included the team whose home field was the stadium selected as the host (the Rams this year and the Bucs last season). The Bucs went on to the win the title last year, but can the Rams continue this trend?

It will be a much steeper uphill climb for the Rams, as it has been repeatedly pointed out during the buildup to the game that the Rams “home field advantage” is next to nothing, as their local fanbase seems wholly disinterested and disengaged in the entire process. The Rams higher ups have been pleading with the fans not to sell off their tickets, and certainly not to sell them to the Cincy fanbase. The Bengals just packed in 30,000+ fans to Paul Brown Stadium in a momentous sendoff where CJ Uzomah was seen ripping off his knee brace and firing up the masses. Edge: Cincy. 

Now let’s get to the individual positions. Namely, the Rams receiving corps will look to stack up against the Bengals equally impressive unit. Cooper Kupp vs. Ja’Marr Chase, Odell Beckham vs. Tee Higgins, Van Jefferson vs. Tyler Boyd, and Tyler Higbee vs. CJ Uzomah. This is probably one of the most even comparisons in all of football, but I think, with a gun to my head, I’d HAVE to give the edge to Cincy, solely based on depth. I could really see this one going either way though, so officially I am going to label this one as a push. Edge: None. 

Running backs? With no Petey Jones on either side, the matchup is as close as the WRs. Cam Akers is still technically a question mark for the big game after being dinged up in the Rams previous contest in the NFC Championship game, but I don’t see any way he sits this one out. And whether he does or doesn’t, Sony Michel should also factor in for the Rams. Sony has been solid all year in relief of Akers/Henderson, so no reason to think he can’t continue to fill in effectively. 

On the flip side, you’ve got the tandem of Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine, the latter of which has seen increased usage down the stretch and in the playoffs, which appears to be keeping Mixon fresh and capable of some big runs in clutch situations. As far as the talent at the RB spot… Edge: Cincy. 

Now we get to the QBs, arguably the biggest part of both offenses, and another great matchup in this game. Matt Stafford vs. Joe Burrow. Stafford has had a long and rough climb through his NFL career to finally make it to the big show, and no one is happier than TSF to see him finally get there. He’s no David Blough, but he’s pretty decent and this season he has shown that he can be a monster with the right talent around him. However, he’s had a few games where he has thrown multiple interceptions, and those have been the games where the Rams struggled to stay competitive. 

On the other side, Joe Shiesty has made a meteoric rise, making it to the Super Bowl in just his second NFL season (and his first full season not cut short by injury). He looks to be an absolute gamer, and his team is feeling themselves after a huge win over KC in the AFC Championship game. He has avoided making the killer mistakes to take his team out of any contest, and if he can continue to protect the ball in this one, Cincy should see themselves in another tight matchup that they can win once again. 

However, all things being so narrow and close to equal, I am going to give the edge at QB to the Rams, primarily based on experience. Both teams have defenses who have been able to generate turnovers and capitalize on mistakes made by opposing teams, and I think there is a good chance the Rams have used these two weeks of prep to come up with a way to scheme against what Burrow does well and toss him a wrinkle here and there that might confuse him just enough to force him into one huge mistake. On the flip side, it will be much harder for the Bengals to show Stafford something he hasn’t seen already in his long career, and instead any mistake he makes will be purely because of his gunslinger tendencies, so as long as he remembers the stakes of the Super Bowl and doesn’t let that mentality take over, he should have the edge at the QB spot. 

The difference between these two teams are razor thin, and no matter how you slice it we should be in for a great game come Sunday at 6:30pm EST. Stay tuned later in the week for our Book Burners Super Bowl picks and all the props they’ll be hammering on Sunday, it’s sure to be a doozy of an article. 

And as always, Stay Fluid, Stay Loose.