The Super Bowl is right around the corner, ready to kick off on Sunday. After the biggest season in NFL history, we’re down to two teams: the Bengals and the Rams. The two sides couldn’t be more different on the surface, one defying all odds to reach this point and the other realizing its on-paper potential. But they figure to make for must-see TV on the biggest stage in football.
As we gear up for Super Bowl LVI, here are 56 things to know for the big game:
1. Super Bowl LVI will be played between the Bengals and Rams, marking the first time these teams have met in a championship.
2. This is the Bengals’ first Super Bowl appearance since 1988, when they lost to the 49ers, 20-16.
3. Before this season, the Bengals had not won a playoff game since 1990, when they beat the Oilers (now the Titans), the longest drought in the four major North American sports.
4. The Bengals have appeared in three Super Bowls total, including this one. Their first two — in 1981 and 1988 — were both against the 49ers. They lost to San Francisco both times, and each time by one score.
5. The Rams, on the other hand, are making their fifth Super Bowl appearance, and their second in the last four years.
6. Los Angeles last appeared in the big game in 2018, when the Patriots defeated them, 13-3, in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl of all time.
7. The Rams last won the Super Bowl in 1999, when they beat the Titans, 23-16, in Super Bowl XXXIV to cap a drastic turnaround as the “Greatest Show on Turf.”
8. This matchup marks the first time in Super Bowl history that both teams entered the playoffs as No. 4 seeds.
9. Both teams’ quarterbacks — Joe Burrow, for the Bengals; and Matthew Stafford, for the Rams — are former No. 1 overall draft picks.
10. Burrow is finishing just his second NFL season. At 25, he’s looking to become one of the youngest QBs to ever win a Super Bowl, behind just…
..
