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ESPN staff
Well now. Super Bowl LVI is going to give us a matchup that almost none of us expected when the 2021 season began.
The Cincinnati Bengals were 125-1 preseason long shots to reach the Super Bowl, having won an NFL-worst two games in 2019 and then only four games last season. They’ve made the quickest turnaround from worst record to the Super Bowl in league history. They’ll face the Los Angeles Rams, who will now become the second consecutive team to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium. (The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV last season at Raymond James Stadium.)
Here’s what we have to get the Super Bowl conversation started: Kevin Seifert looks at each team and how each can win the Super Bowl; Seth Walder crunches the numbers to give you some key stats to know; Matt Bowen dives into the game plan with a key matchup and an X factor; Dan Graziano answers big questions surrounding the final game of the season; Jason Reid explores what’s at stake for each quarterback’s legacy; and finally, we have early, gut-reaction predictions from our experts. Let’s dive in.
Note: Game lines are via Caesars Sportsbook. Predictions are from ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI).
Jump to:
Rams | Bengals | Key stats
X factors | Big questions
Quarterbacks | Early picks
When: 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Feb. 13 on NBC
Where: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
Opening line: Rams -3.5 (O/U 50)
FPI prediction: Rams (66.3%) by 5.5 points
Two weeks of hype will center on quarterback play, and for good reason. The Bengals’ Joe Burrow has been playing out of his mind in the playoffs, and the Rams’ Matthew Stafford has provided exactly what his new team was looking for. But the best player on the field will be Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who helped close out the NFC Championship Game and could be the Rams’ antidote to Burrow’s hot play. — Seifert
Kevin Seifert’s first look at the matchup
Rams
Regular season: 12-5 | No. 4 seed in NFC
Reason for hope: No Matthew Stafford…
Source : espn
