Photo By: Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

Super Bowl LVI Preview

The Super Bowl is now less than a week away! This year’s final will be played in Inglewood, California, at the newly built SoFi Stadium.

This will be the 56th edition of the Super Bowl, one of the biggest sporting events of the year in the United States, and one which is rapidly growing in popularity throughout the globe. The stage is now set for Super Bowl LVI, which will commence on February 14th when Matthew Stafford’s Los Angeles Rams take on Joe Burrows Cincinnati Bengals. This will be the first Super Bowl appearances for both Quarterbacks.

The Road to the Super Bowl

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals finished the base game with a score-line of 10-7. They surprisingly finished first in AFC North and snagged the playoff spot ahead of the Steelers, Browns, and Ravens.

The first playoff round saw the Bengals take on the Raiders, in a tough game that ultimately ended 26-19 in the Bengal’s favour. In the Divisional Round, the Bengals faced the Titans in an incredibly close match that ended 19-16 in their favour. Lastly, the Conference Championships saw the Bengals come up against tough opposition in the form of Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs, the side that played the Super Bowl in both 2020 and 2021. The Bengals went on to beat the Chiefs 27-24 in what was a thrilling encounter.

Los Angeles Rams

Sean McVay’s Rams traded in quarterback Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff ahead of the season, a switch that would quickly prove to be a stroke of genius as Stafford had a fantastic season, ranking in third for best quarterbacks in the league.

The Rams ended the regular season with five wins and a loss in the final six games, with their overall result in the regular season being 12-5. The Rams won their NFC West Division ahead of teams like the Cardinals, 2020 finalists 49ers, and the Seahawks.

The Rams went on to win their first playoff game convincingly against the Cardinals with a score-line of 34-11. In the Divisional Round, they beat last year’s winners, the Buccaneers, 30-27 in a breathtaking game. In their final playoff game, they beat the 49ers 20-17, an extremely tight affair that was eventually decided in the last quarter via a field goal from the Rams kicker, and through a fumble of the 49ers’ offensive line-up in their last “drive”.

Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show

This year, the halftime show will embrace the world of hip hop with a star-studded line-up, consisting of West Coast legends Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, as well as others like Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige.

Past Winners and Historic Franchises

The last two Super Bowls have one thing in common, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have an incredibly good team, and have been a team who can really be counted on ever since Patrick Mahomes’ arrival in 2017. In the previous two finals, the Chiefs have won one and lost one, with their triumph coming against the 49ers in 2020. They were then defeated by Tom Brady’s Buccaneers the following year.

When talking about NFL dynasties in recent years, the New England Patriots are probably the first team worth mentioning. The Patriots with Bill Belichick as coach and Tom Brady as QB reached the Super Bowl nine times between 2002 and 2019. The Patriots won six of those nine Super Bowls!

The Patriots and Steelers are the teams with the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history, with both franchises having six rings. The Patriots had their heyday in the 2000s and 2010s while the Steelers dominated the league in the 70s.

In joint-second place with five rings each are the Cowboys, who claimed the majority of their rings in the 90s, and the 49ers, who took four rings in eight years during the 80s. In joint-third are the Packers and Giants with four rings each.