We’re about 24 hours away from Super Bowl LVI, and we cannot wait.

The Super Bowl is the granddaddy of all American sporting events. It’s broadcasted in more than 170 countries worldwide. Families gather and eat ridiculous amounts of delicious food as they take in the action. Even people who don’t care about football will still tune in, as the commercials are sometimes just as great as the game. Did you know that it costs roughly $6.5 million for a 30-second commercial to be aired during the Super Bowl? That’s the power of the Big Game.

Super Bowl LVI: the Cincinnati Bengals versus the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams were supposed to be here, while the Bengals were not. In fact, at the start of the season, the Rams were +1200 to win the Super Bowl, the 4th best odds in the NFL, while the Bengals were +15000, the third worst odds in all of football. The Bengals had the same odds to win the Super Bowl at the start of the season as the New York Jets. Let that sink in for a second.

Without any further ado, let’s get right into the The MVP Blog’s previews and predictions for Super Bowl LVI.

Super Bowl LVI
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams
Sunday, February 13th, 2022, 6:30pm EST on NBC

Ryan: These two teams could not possibly be more evenly matched. Here’s some regular season stats to prove it:

• Points per game: Rams 27.1, Bengals 27.1
• Yards per game: Rams 372.1, Bengals 361.5
• Opponent points per game: Rams 21.9, Bengals 22.1
• Opponent yards per game: Rams 344.9, Bengals 350.8
• Turnovers: Rams 23, Bengals 21
• Penalties: Rams 76, Bengals 72
• Penalty Yards: Rams 637, Bengals 620

That is absurd.

Everyone likes to talk about how suspect the Bengals defense is and how dominant the Rams defense is, but those numbers prove that the supposed gap in defensive dominance between these two teams couldn’t be further from the truth. The Rams have the bigger names with Aaron Donald, Von Miller, and Jalen Ramsey, and that’s why everyone gravitates towards that line of thinking. But the truth is that the Rams defense has been middle of the road compared to other NFL defenses this season. They have been great against the run but have struggled a bit against the pass. Now, they face a passing attack of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd. Jalen Ramsey is elite; you cannot deny that. He frequently shuts down the opposing team’s number one option. He was once again the top-ranking CB according to PFF. The rest of the secondary, however, is a bit thin. They had to bring 37-year-old Eric Weddle out of retirement to sure up the back end. Weddle was a fantastic safety in his prime, but he is well past those days. Jalen Ramsey may be able to slow down Chase, but he will not completely take him out of the game. I still like Chase to have 60-80 yards. Tee Higgins, who I correctly predicted would lead the AFC Championship game in receiving yards, will have another big game. I like Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine to play a big role in the passing attack as well. It’s going to be tough to get the running game going against the Rams front seven. Another key for the Bengals is keeping Joe Burrow off the ground. The Bengals allowed 55 sacks this season, the third most in the NFL. The Rams defense recorded 50 sacks this season, also the third most in the NFL.

The Bengals have also struggled against the pass this season, which is not great news when you have to go up against Kupp and OBJ. Kupp has been having a historic season and OBJ has been playing very well since being cut by the Browns and signing with the Rams. He had his best game of the season last time out against the 49ers, recording 113 yards on 9 receptions. The Bengals have to be able to get pressure on Matthew Stafford, because that will help the secondary that is otherwise overmatched. Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals front seven won’t get to Stafford easily, though, as the Rams allowed only 31 sacks in 2021.

Score Prediction: Rams 27, Bengals 24

Ben: While Ryan brought superb statistics and logical reasoning to make his argument, I will be catering to the section of our audience that doesn’t care about any of that stuff. At The MVP Blog, we appreciate our armchair fans just as much as we appreciate our stat nerds.

After last season’s Super Bowl, which was over after the first quarter, everyone will be hoping for a close game on Sunday. In this regard, I think that this year’s iteration of the Big Game will deliver.

Let’s talk about what this game means for each team, starting with the men under center. Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow are both ready for this moment. This is as even a quarterback matchup as there could be in a Super Bowl. Stafford has been waiting for this moment for his entire career. He played the first 12 seasons of his career for the Detroit Lions. There has never been this much pressure on his shoulders, and his team will be counting on him. In Los Angeles, all eyes will be on the Rams’ #9 as he looks to win his first Super Bowl to cement himself as one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Meanwhile, Joe Burrow is looking to write some history of his own for a Bengals team which is way ahead of schedule. Burrow’s rise to stardom has been unprecedented, as he came back from an ACL tear in 2020 to lead his team to the Super Bowl. This is a team who everyone believed would struggle to finish the regular season above .500, not contend for the Lombardi Trophy in February. His lethal connection with Ja’Marr Chase has been the most exciting storyline in the NFL this season. The Bengals won’t be able to win the Super Bowl if they can’t get him going. He opens everything up for that offense to operate and keeping the offense on the field has to be the top priority for Bengals head coach Zac Taylor (who I believe was robbed of the Coach of the Year award).

I am a very superstitious individual. I am 1-5 in my NFL playoff game predictions in 2022. I am rooting for the Cincinnati Bengals.

I think you can see where this is going.

Score Prediction: Rams 31, Bengals 27

Who’s going to win the big game? Comment down below!

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Authors: Ben Pawlak and Ryan Macdonald

Published: 2/12/22 at 6pm EST

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Sources/Works Cited:

Google Images, Google, https://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en.

Sports Reference LLC. Pro-Football-Reference.com – Pro Football Statistics and History. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/. 22 January 2022.

StatMuse, https://www.statmuse.com/.