Super Bowl LVI Preview: A History of Two Teams

History is in the making here at Super Bowl LVI. The matchup of the Cincinnati Bengals, making their first appearance since 1988, comes in as the home team to take on the Los Angeles Rams who were just here three years ago. For the first time ever, there are two #4 seeds playing in the Super Bowl. It has always been a 1, 2, or 3 seed versus anyone, but never two seeds outside of the top three. I’ll dig into the of these teams in Super Bowl LVI Preview: A History of Two Teams.

These two teams have a cinderella story of their own. Let’s look back and see what made this weekend’s game become what it is.

The Los Angeles Rams

Three years ago the Los Angeles Rams who were led by Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, and Brandin Cooks who lost a snoozer to Tom Brady, and the only touchdown of the game scored by starting running back Sony Michel. After the season, then-time quarterback coach Zac Taylor was hired by the Cincinnati Bengals as their new head coach. The team had a few key pieces leave their roster to fall down from their Super Bowl 53 loss to a 9-7 season and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

We have seen the many trades that Mcvay and Company have done over the years, but nothing bigger than the trade for then at-time Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. The Rams traded 2016 No.1 overall pick, Goff, along with a 2021 3rd-round pick, 2022 1st-round pick, and a 2023 1st round pick all just for Stafford.

The Rams were all in at this point as they also traded for running back Sony Michel with the injury to starting running back Cam Akers to pair up with Darell Henderson Jr.

Going All In

LA was not done there yet. Right before the NFL trade deadline, the Rams traded for future Hall of Famer Von Miller for a second and third-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Rams GM, Les Snead put all his chips in on this season, betting on himself and the team’s future as the Rams and at the time a 7-1 record.

After the Miller trade, the unexpected happened. Odell Beckham Jr. wanted out of Cleveland and got his wish. He cleared being claimed because his agent told all teams not to claim him because he wants to go where he wants to go. The New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, and the Green Bay Packers were teams on his list. Everyone was just waiting to hear. Then the news comes out that he’s signing with the Los Angeles Rams. This team is locked and loaded and all in now.

Was signing Beckham the answer that Stafford and the LA Rams needed? A blessing in disguise, a day after the signing, Robert Woods tore his ACL and was done for the season. The Kupp/Woods/OBJ we all got excited for didn’t even have an opportunity to collaborate with each other. Also, what about Beckham himself? Was he going to be the same player we have been seeing in Cleveland just being another wide receiver? Or are we going to see a glimpse of the wide receiver we all saw early in his career, including his final year in New York?

Over the final eight games of the regular season, we saw the old Beckham we all loved as he finished the regular season with 27 catches for 305 yards and five touchdowns. That’s just two less than his career total in Cleveland!

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The Von Miller trade was also a win for the Rams. Ever since joining the team in week 10, Miller was ranked first in tackles for loss with 16, fourth in pressures with 46, and tied for tenth with seven sacks. Les Snead is looking like a really smart man here!

Coming at the end of the 2018 season, Marvin Lewis and the Cincinnati Bengals fished 6-10. After a 16-year run as the head coach, no playoff wins and three straight losing seasons, he was fired. He was 131-122-3. A little over a month later, coming off a Super Bowl loss, former quarterbacks coach of the Los Angeles Rams, Taylor was hired. “Zach is a bright coach with an offensive mind and background, which is important to have in today’s NFL, ” owner Mike Brown said at the press conference of the hire. “And he’s young. He embraces new ideas and new ways to do things, which will be a good thing for us.”

At the time, the 35-year old head coach’s resume was the strongest around the quarterback position. Back then he had Jared Goff looking like a competent quarterback throwing for a career-best 4,688 yards with 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. So what could he do to improve Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals? It all went south and Dalton had the lowest touchdown total of his career at that time and the Bengals went 2-14 and held the #1 pick for the 2020 NFL Draft.

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The Cincinnati Bengals

The 2020 NFL Draft started and the Cincinnati selected Heisman Trophy and college football’s national champion, Joe Burrow, with the first overall pick. A pick that many loved and viewed him as a franchise quarterback that the Bengals could build around. To kick off day two of the NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals were expected to take a “need” at the offensive line but decided to go with Tee Higgins. Many questioned this picked, but rumor has it during the Senior Bowl, the Burrow to Higgins connection was perfect and one not to pass up.

What about the offensive line? That has been the question mark that has been hovering over the Cincinnati Bengals. They had 2019 first-round pick, Jonah Williams, in the lineup, but that wasn’t enough to help. 2020 was a rough year as the offensive line was showing whoa as Burrow got sacked 32 times before going down with a torn ACL. The rookie was having a hell of a season and it came to an end in Week 11.

Finishing with a 4-11-1 record in 2020, the Cincinnati Bengals held the 5th overall pick and knew the offensive line, especially tackle, should be a top priority. At least according to everyone outside the organization. Most had Oregon’s offensive tackle going to the Bengals at five. Not the Bengals. They took top-rated LSU teammate of Burrow’s Ja’Marr Chase. Fans went nuts and analysts were in awe of what just happened. Passing on a massive need and adding another weapon for Burrow. You’re gonna kill it, kid!

Obviously, the Bengals knew more than we all did. The offensive line was still horrible as Burrow was sacked an astonishing 55 times. That didn’t matter as the Burrow to Chase connection was there, and fun to watch all season long.

All season long, it was Burrow, Joe Mixon, Chase, and Higgins just killing it all season. They lost some close games, won close ones, and made it to the top of the AFC North as the #1 team and the #4 in the AFC playoffs.

So here we are, two #4 seeds in the NFL making history. A game of the ages, a game that will be a great one with a quarterback who never won a playoff game in his 12-year career, to win his first Super Bowl and a game of a quarterback who is looking to win his first Super Bowl after winning the college football championship and Heisman within a three-year span.

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