The Cincinnati Bengals are set to face off against the Los Angeles Rams on February 13, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. This will be the second straight year that a team will have home field advantage for the Super Bowl after the Buccaneers got to play on their home turf last year. The Bengals have not made it to the Super Bowl since 1989 and the Rams are coming back to the big game since their loss to the New England Patriots in 2019. Here are the two paths that these teams took to reach the 56th Super Bowl.

The story of the Cincinnati Bengals starts in the 2019-2020 NFL season. The Bengals had a nightmare season, only winning 2 games out of 16. Their long-time quarterback, Andy Dalton was coming to the end of his career, and the Bengals were ready to let go of him. Meanwhile, at Louisiana State University, Joe Burrow won the NCAA National Championship. He led the LSU Tigers to an amazing season and was the best quarterback in the draft by far. Whoever had the number one pick was going to pick him, and that team was the Cincinnati Bengals. So, with the first pick in the 2020 NFL draft, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Joe Burrow. Bengals fans rejoiced as an amazing talent was coming to their city. But, the major flaw with this Cincinnati team was the offensive line, being one of the worst in the league. This proved crucial, as on November 22nd, Joe Burrow fell to a left knee injury which can be blamed on the poor play of his offensive line. Burrow was out for the rest of the season, and the hopes of Bengals fans were crushed and they ended the season with a 4-11-1 record. This record ended up having a silver lining to it, it set up the Bengals with a high draft pick.

This starts the story of the 2021-2022 season. The Bengals drafted Ja’Marr Chase from Joe Burrow’s former college, LSU. Burrow and Chase were extremely dominant together in college, and they were ready to do it again on the big stage. Joe Burrow certainly did not disappoint and as he had a big bounce back from his injury, even being in the MVP conversation. Along with that, Chase had an outstanding regular season, as he recorded 81 receptions, for 1,455 yards with an average of 18.0 yards per reception. Chase is likely to win Offensive Rookie of the Year this season, as no other rookie came close to having as good of a year as the young star. Also, the running back Joe Mixon had an outstanding season as he finished top 3 in rushing yards this season. The last highlighted star of this young team is rookie kicker Evan McPherson. Most kickers never get mentioned when talking about a team’s great players, but his great season was able to help lead the 10-7 Bengals to the division title and a playoff berth.

The Bengals were the 4th seed heading into the playoffs, and they were slated to play the No. 7 seed Las Vegas Raiders for their first game. The Bengals were able to slip by the Raiders 19-26 on Joe Burrow’s 244 passing yards. But, this was the least of the Bengals challenges, as now they had to pack their bags to Nashville to play the No. 1 Seed Tennessee Titans, led by their star returning from injury, Derrick Henry. The game started off slow with the Bengals up 9-6 at the half, but the Titans were able to work the game to a 16-16 score. Then, with almost no time on the clock, kicker Evan McPherson stepped up and won the game for Cincinnati. They now went to Kansas City to play the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bengals were down 21-3, and it seemed as if this run was about to come to an end. But, they were able to work their way back and the game went to overtime at a score of 24-24. The Bengals got an interception in overtime which later set up the field goal to win the game. McPherson stepped up yet again, and sent the Bengals to a Super Bowl that nobody expected them to be in.

The Los Angeles Rams have had a different story of reaching the Super Bowl. Unlike the Bengals, the Rams have had some success in the past few years. Ever since they made the move back to Los Angeles they have won their division three times. But, after losing in the playoffs multiple times, the Rams decided to make some changes to their roster. The biggest trade they made in the off season was for quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions. They traded the Lions their current quarterback, Jared Goff, in return. Stafford has always been known to be a great quarterback, he just has not had good weapons ever since Calvin Johnson retired. Once the season started, the Rams were able to pick up two big names, Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller. Odell has proved to be a very big pickup and has fit right into their explosive offense. That offense also includes one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, Cooper Kupp. Kupp is one of the biggest reasons the Rams have made it this far as he has had one of the best seasons of all time. Von Miller has also fit right into his role in the defense along with one of the best defensive lineman of all time, Aaron Donald. Jalen Ramsey and the other defensive stars of the team also had good seasons. So, with all of this talent brought together, the Rams went 12-5 and earned the 4th seed in the NFC.

The Rams kicked off the playoffs with a big win against their division rival, the Arizona Cardinals. They then moved on to their biggest challenge, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Rams were up 27-3 and one point and Brady led the Bucs back to tie the game 27-27. But, in the final moments of the game Stafford found Kupp deep and set up the game winning field goal for the Rams. The Rams now had a second division rival to play against, the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams once again barely won this game, as they only won by a margin of 3 points. This game then led them to the Super Bowl to play against the Bengals in Los Angeles, in their own stadium.

So, these two teams have now reached the Super Bowl despite their differing paths. The Bengals found their success in young players and through the draft, and the Rams have used trades and free agency to succeed. So now, the teams are set up and ready to play on the biggest Sunday of the year. The two teams are full of talent and in high hopes to get a Lombardi Trophy for the case, so the game will not be one to miss.