Gearing up for Sunday’s big game – Super Bowl LVI
Fred Jeter | 2/10/2022, 6 p.m.
In looking for Super Bowl storylines, a good start might be the quarterbacks, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow and the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford.
In one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NFL annals, Burrow has taken a team that was 6-25-1 during the past two years to football’s ultimate game.
The strong-armed former Louisiana State University star has the size, speed, smarts and, now we find out, style, to turn heads on the glitziest stage. Cameras were working overtime following “Joe Cool’s” postgame appearance against the favored Kansas City Chiefs.
Burrow’s bomber jacket/turtleneck/bling/shades ensemble was patterned after one of his heroes, actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
If there’s a more heart-warming human interest story than the rags-to-riches Bengals, it is rags-to-riches Stafford. After 12 frustrating seasons with the downtrodden Detroit Lions, the former No. 1 draft pick out of Georgia has seen his star shine just a few miles from Hollywood.
The Lions made the playoffs only three times during Stafford’s 12 seasons, going 0-3. By contrast, he is 3-0 with the Rams in just one playoff season.
When it comes to styling and profiling, few can top the Rams’ wideout Odell Beckham Jr., famous for his elaborate outfits, curly locks and one-handed catches.
Like Stafford, Beckham toiled in defeat with the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns before going to the Los Angeles Rams in a mid-season deal.
Since arriving in L.A., he has 27 catches in seven games with five touchdowns. Few are more capable of the “I-can’t-believe-my-eyes” catch than Beckham.
Beckham’s big-play counterpart in Cincinnati is Ja’Marr Chase, who, like Burrow and Beckham, is a LSU alum.
The fifth overall pick a year ago, Chase has been spectacular with receptions covering 1,455 yards — 18 yards a catch—and 13 touchdowns. Swift and elusive, Chase is among the NFL leaders in YAC, Yards After Catch.
The Bengals have never won a Super Bowl and lost to San Francisco in both 1981 and 1988.
The Rams have one Super Bowl victory, a 1999 decision over Tennessee. However, that was when the Rams were playing in St. Louis. The Rams also have lost in the Super Bowl three times, including once while in St. Louis.
Now here’s the real oddity about Super Bowl LVI.
After 54 years of never having a Super Bowl finalist play at home, now it has happened two years in a row. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a year ago at its home Raymond James Stadium.
This year’s game will be at the Rams’ SoFi Stadium.
And this is where it really gets weird.
The Bengals are the designated home team—it alternates from AFC to NFC each year—so they will use the Rams’ regular locker room.
Strangely, the hometown Rams will dress in the visitors locker room.