The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium.
Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth—both who will likely be in the Hall of Fame one day—perhaps played their last games on Sunday night.
Stafford got his first Super Bowl championship with the win.
The Bengals are looking for their first Super Bowl win of all-time.
Bengals QB Joe Burrow, who is in his second season as a pro, is looking to become the first quarterback to ever win a Heisman Trophy, a college national championship and a Super Bowl title. Burrow could do it in a three-year window.
The Rams booted a field goal midway through the third quarter to make the score tighter.
Third quarter Cincinnati 20, L.A. Rams 16
Rams receiver Odell Beckman Jr. was injured on the ensuing drive, dropping to the ground while grasping his knee as he dropped a pass into his chest.
Beckman’s status is unknown going into the second half.
The Bengals will receive the ball to start the second half.
Halftime L.A. Rams 13, Cincinnati 10
The Rams failed on their extra-point attempt, which lost a point for Los Angeles.
2nd Quarter, 12:51 L.A. Rams 13, Cincinnati 3
The Rams got the ball back, but let the clock run down as the first quarter ended.
For those playing squares and having the numbers 3 and 7, it worked out well.
End of 1st quarter L.A. Rams 7, Bengals 3
This came after the Bengals missed a fourth down attempt near midfield on their first drive of the game.
The Rams, who went three-and-out on their first drive, stopped the Bengals on that team’s second drive of the game.
L.A. Rams 7, Bengals 0 6:22, 1st quarter
The Cincinnati Bengals deferred their choice to the second half, and the Rams will take the ball to start the game. It’s not a bad thing for the Rams, though.
The team that won the last seven coin tosses in the Super Bowl eventually lost the game.
The last team to win both the coin toss and the game was the Seattle Seahawks, who defeated the Denver Broncos, 43-8, in Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.
Winning the coin toss doesn’t mean a team has an automatic advantage, though. Take the last seven Super Bowls, for example. The team that won the last seven coin tosses in the Super Bowl eventually lost the game.
The last team to win both the coin toss and the game was the Seattle Seahawks, who defeated the Denver Broncos, 43-8, in Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.
Biden was asked which team he liked, Cincinnati or Los Angeles, on Sunday.
“Well, my teams are out,” Biden responded. “I love this young quarterback [Joe Burrow] from Cincinnati. He’s an Ohio boy can make everybody happy. But I also think Los Angeles is gonna be hard to beat.”
Burrow entered the stadium in a flashy suit and hat that had social media buzzing on Sunday, probably unaware of the president’s remarks.
Matthew Stafford, who played high school ball in Texas before playing college football at Georgia, is the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams.
Biden, who was a receiver in his high school days, had his first Super Bowl interview last year and was asked if he preferred to catch passes from Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady ahead of the Chiefs-Buccaneers game in Tampa. Biden said he preferred Mahomes because of youth over experience. Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wound up winning the Super Bowl over Mahomes and the Chiefs.
The TV announcers for NBC will be Al Michaels (play-by-play) and Cris Collinsworth (color analyst) in the booth. Michele Tafoya and Kathryn Tappen will be the field reporters. The rules analyst for NBC will be Terry McAulay.
This will be the 11th Super Bowl for Michaels, which ties Pat Sumrall for the most ever. It’s the fifth Super Bowl broadcast for both Collinsworth and Tafoya.
Telemundo will have the first-ever Spanish TV broadcast of the game with legendary soccer announcer Andrés Cantor in the lead.
Radio announcers for Westwood One will be Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner in the booth with Laura Okmin and Mike Golic as field reporters.
The game can be heard on radio as well: SIRIUS: 82 (LAR), 85 (Cin.), 88 (National) XM: 226 (LAR), 225 (Cin.), 88 (National) SXM App: 818 (LAR), 806 (Cin.)
The artists induce Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
“I’m extremely excited to share the stage with my friends for the #PepsiHalftime Show. This will introduce the next saga of my career… Bigger and Better than Ever!!!” Dr. Dre wrote on Instagram.
Burrow has been perfect in postseason ever since.
Following the 2018 regular season at LSU, he and the Tigers knocked off Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl, ending the Knights’ two-year winning streak. In 2019, he led LSU to an undefeated regular season, and then a win over Georgia in the SEC Championship. He then guided LSU to a semifinal win over Oklahoma and national championship win over Clemson, making him 4-0 postseason in college. His last regular-season loss in college was 74-72 at Texas A&M in seven overtimes at the end of the 2018 season.
This year in Cincinnati, Burrow won a wild card game over the Las Vegas Raiders, and then a road game at Tennessee in the divisional round and a win at Kansas City in the AFC Championship.
Burrow is 7-0 in postseason games since losing the state championship in 2014.
Guyton’s first album, Remember Her Name, has been nominated for Country Music Album of the Year, which is the first-ever for a Black singer. She’s also been nominated for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.
Jhené Aiko will sing “America the Beautiful” before the national anthem. Actress Sandra Mae Frank will perform American Sign Language for both songs.
This might bode well for the Rams, though, as teams wearing white jerseys have won 14 of the last 17 Super Bowls. The only teams wearing dark jerseys to win the title in that span have been the Green Bay Packers (XLV), Philadelphia Eagles (LII), and Kansas City Chiefs (LIV) in 2020.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the designated “home” team in last year’s game in their home stadium, but they opted to wear their white jerseys. The Buccaneers defeated the Chiefs, 31-9.
Here are their picks:
Mina Kimes — Rams Marcus Spears — Rams Laura Rutledge — Rams Ryan Clark — Bengals Dan Orlovsky — Rams
The picks were made before 12:30 p.m. ET. Newsweek will post more predictions from around TV media as they happen throughout the day.
The Rams are the designated away team for this game, meaning they are wearing white jerseys instead of their home blue. The Bengals will wear their home black jerseys for this game.
Furthermore, the Bengals have hit the road their last two games to make it to Super Bowl 56. The Bengals beat the AFC top-seeded Tennessee Titans in the divisional round, and then they beat the second-seeded Chiefs in Kansas City in the AFC Championship.
The ticket resale site Vivid Seats stated that Bengals fans have bought more than 50 percent of the Super Bowl seats. According to the site, the team with more fans has won the last six Super Bowls.
Throw in the Super Bowl MVP and he could be even more unprecedented than what’s been done in history.
Burrow, who began his college career at Ohio State, transferred to LSU before the 2018 season. He led the LSU Tigers to a national title in the 2019 season, picking up the Heisman along the way. The 2019 LSU Tigers are widely renowned as the best college team that ever played. Among the players on that offense are Bengals rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, and Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Elaire.
Super Bowl MVP +125 Matthew Stafford (QB, Rams) +230 Joe Burrow (QB, Bengals) +550 Cooper Kupp (WR, Rams)
First TD Scorer +500 Cooper Kupp (Rams) +700 Cam Akers (Rams) +750 Joe Mixon (Bengals) +800 Ja’Marr Chase (Bengals) +900 Odell Beckham Jr. (Rams)
There are lots of betting props, from yardage, touchdown yardage, team with the first touchdown pass, any offensive lineman to score, shortest touchdown scored and many more here.
The Rams, despite hosting the game at their home stadium, are the designated away team for Sunday’s game as the home and visitor designation rotates on a yearly basis.
The Bengals went on the road to beat the AFC’s top seed (Tennessee Titans) and No. 2 Kansas City Chiefs in back-to-back weeks to make the Super Bowl.
The Rams defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship. The Rams got to host the NFC title game after going on the road to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the same day the 49ers went on the road to beat the top-seeded Green Bay Packers.
