The Superbowl matchup is finally decided after two exhilarating championship games. The Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams will be playing on February 13th in the SoFi Stadium. The SoFi Stadium is the Rams’ home stadium. The Superbowl has only been played at home one other time (Bucs v. Chiefs) in the 57 years it has existed. This matchup was unexpected, with both teams coming out on top despite being projected to lose and has the makings for a close game.  

The last time the Bengals went to the Superbowl was in 1989. Since then they have a completely different roster. The question is, can their offensive line take them all the way to victory? Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has taken 51 sacks in the 2021 season, which is twice the amount of sacks Matthew Stafford (Rams quarterback) has on his stats this year. 

Additionally, the Bengals have a total of 37 qb pressures in total between their three postseason games. The Bengals are certainly going to have to upgrade their plans for the offensive line when facing the Rams. Unlike other teams the Bengals faced this season, the Rams occasionally will play with five defensive linemen on early downs, introducing a new strategy to combat. However, playing with five on early downs will leave holes in their back defensive line, which creates an opportunity for Burrow to find an opening. Burrow came in fourth when it came to quick game passing concepts over the regular season, which means he could be quick on his feet to locate the availability on the field and get past the Rams defense.  

Burrow left the Chiefs game dealing with an aggravated knee injury. This is more than likely due to the ACL and MCL tears he sustained in his 2020 season. He is reportedly doing better, but leg injuries are notorious for having an unpredictable recovery time. Hopefully Ja Marr Chase can help Burrow pick up some of the slack his injury may cause. Chase and Burrows have been playing together since LSU in 2018, and have won every postseason game they’ve played in together (7). When addressing the duo offensive coordinator for the Bengals, Brian Callahan, says, “You can see it and feel it. They know how to communicate with each other,” (Feb. 2). The two of them combined have 2,093 yards, 23 touchdowns and 107 receptions from their two seasons together at LSU. 

Wide receiver for the Rams, Odell Beckham Junior’s stats from the NFC championship are extremely promising. Beckham Jr had 113 yards and 9 catches out of 11 targets. Beckham recently joined the Rams after leaving the Browns in November of 2021. He will be facing his former teammates on Sunday, and even tweeted “Don’t come to Cleveland” to Von Miller, his friend and edge rusher for the Browns. Additionally, the Rams have wide receiver Cooper Kupp playing for them, who has exploded this season. Kupp has 13 games with 100+ receiving yards. Kupp also finished the season with 1,947 receiving yards, just 17 yards shy of Calvin Johnson’s all-time best 1,964 receiving yard season in 2012.

For the Bengals to secure a win, they need to limit turnovers as they did during the end of the regular and postseason. They also need to solidify their offensive line. Though ESPN favors the Rams at 66.3% to 33.7%, it is common for favored teams to do poorly against certain well executed defensive and offensive schemes. In terms of the offensive line, offensive tackle Riley Reiff was placed on injured reserve and will not be returning this season. Following Reiff’s injury (ankle), wide receiver Auden Tate is also on injured reserve (calf) and will not be playing in the superbowl. Tightend Uzomah, wide receiver Stanley Morgan, Guard Jackson Carmen and defensive end Cam Sample are all marked as questionable for the super bowl. Hopefully, the questionable roster can recover quickly as there are both offensive and defensive weapons that would be of great help in the game.

In terms of the Rams, they are favored by most professional predictions to win. However, in the past week their questionable injury list has grown by 8 players, including star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who is considered one of the best CB’s in the NFL. Ramsey is out with a shoulder injury and was not present on Friday (2/4) for practice. The Rams need to focus on the strong players they do have and not rely on ones who may not be present for the big game. The Rams have produced a well rounded team this season and will probably end up mainly resorting to their Stafford and Kupp duo to do most of the point scoring. 

When looking from afar this seems like a tough matchup for the Bengals. However, if both teams are able to persevere and bring the same game they brought to the conference championships, a lot of fans may be shocked at the turnout. The biggest question is can the Bengals take their oline to victory, despite being a young semi-inexperienced team? The Super Bowll is Sunday, February 13th at 6:30pm.