The Cincinnati Bengals knocked off the defending AFC champions to get to Super Bowl 56. The Los Angeles Rams can relate; they did the same thing to the the NFC titlists to earn the opportunity to lift the Lombardi Trophy in their home town.
That leaves us with new blood in the big game. We haven’t seen the Bengals here since Phil Collins’ easy-listening smash “Two Hearts” ruled the airwaves. The Rams (-3.5) made it to the mountaintop back in 2019, but were rudely dispatched by the New England Patriots in Bill Belichick’s only boring Super Bowl. In response, they traded away a generation’s worth of first-round picks to load their roster with superstars and attempt another summit.
But just because the teams at the top are relatively unfamiliar doesn’t mean we don’t have an understanding of how Super Bowl 56 will unfold. We know the Bengals are going to try establishing the run to set up big gains from Joe Burrow to take the pressure off a deficient offensive line. We know the Rams are going to try to crumple Burrow’s pockets and sprint out to a big lead behind the Matthew Stafford-Cooper Kupp combination.
A few key statistics from the regular season and playoffs provide more insight. Let’s take a look at the numbers and whether or not they spell disaster for anyone in Inglewood Sunday.
