Super Bowl LVI Pick: Beautiful Dey

The NFL’s premier event is finally upon us, Super Bowl LVI, and the champion of the 2021 season will be crowned this Sunday night.  Let’s break down who the Super Bowl champion will be.

Here we go folks, that bittersweet time for every football fan. As much as Super Bowl Sunday is a celebration of the NFL’s championship, it’s also the culmination of another football season. Come Monday, it’s all over for actual NFL football for another eight months until it all starts over again. Eight long months. So before we talk draft and free agency for the New Orleans Saints, lets break down this final game of the season.

The AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals face the NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams in the biggest spectacle in American professional sports. Cincinnati enters the game with a 10-7 record and they field the AFC’s fourth-ranked passing offense, while Los Angeles enters the game with a 12-5 record and field the NFC’s third-ranked passing offense. It’s a battle of the seventh (LA) and eighth (CIN) ranked scoring offenses in the NFL, so expect to see an aerial show here in Los Angeles. Let’s now take a look at Super Bowl LVI.

Two weeks ago I went 0-2

I told you so: Nothing apparently

What do I know: Nothing apparently

SUPER BOWL LVI – SoFi Stadium – Los Angeles, California

AFC Champion – Cincinnati Bengals

vs

NFC Champion – Los Angeles Rams

Sunday, February 13th, 2022

3:30pm PST / 5:30pm CST / 6:30pm EST

NBC

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“The next generation of Hall of Fame caliber quarterbacks have arrived”

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The NFC Champions will play the Super Bowl in their own home stadium led by a roster top loaded with mercenaries brought in for one purpose, win the Super Bowl right now. The only difference is this team isn’t the Bucs. This isn’t Tom Brady, Antonio Brown, and Rob Gronkowski joining forces to get their ring. Now its the Rams bringing Matthew Stafford, Odell Beckham, Jr, and Von Miller aboard to get their ring. The names may have changed but the story remains the same, but will it pay out the same way it did a year ago in Tampa?

The Los Angeles Rams field the greatest collection of high-priced talent money can buy. Their veteran star power combined with not even needing to leave heir homes to travel for the Super Bowl makes it clearly understandable why they are the favorites over the underdog Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday. Los Angeles is employing every possible advantage at their disposal. They are the second-consecutive team to play in the Super Bowl in their home stadium, an advantage diminished by an underwhelming fanbase, but they still look to take advantage of trends that have benefitted the team in white jerseys. Despite playing in their home stadium, Los Angeles will wear their road white jerseys in Super Bowl LVI. The team wearing white (Los Angeles) has won 14 of the last 17 Super Bowls, the three exceptions being Green Bay (XLV), Philadelphia (LII), and Kansas City (LIV).

The quarterbacks, Joe Burrow and Matthew Stafford, have led the narrative in this matchup, but the outstanding receivers for both teams will be the story on the field. It will not be Cooper Kupp that will be the star pass-catcher for the Rams in this game, it will be mid-season pickup Odell Beckham, Jr that steals the show for the Rams, scoring two touchdowns (likely against Eli Apple), while Kupp will be shut out of the end zone. On the other side, the sensational duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins will account for the Bengals’ trips to the end zone in this Super Bowl.

Chase, Higgins, and Joe Mixon will be key for the Bengals but the key matchup will be Cincy’s offensive line facing All-World quarterback terminator Aaron Donald and Super Bowl 50 hero Von Miller. The Bengals offensive line will face their biggest challenge yet, and they will have to play infinitely better than they did against Tennessee in the Divisional Round for example. They are overmatched but will do just enough to give Joe Burrow a chance to quickly get the ball to his outstanding weapons. Donald will not be shut down, but he will be slowed down in ways that will surprise many. The Bengals will prove some doubters wrong here.

Cincinnati has proven one thing very clearly this postseason, they are intimidated by no team, no stadium, and no deficit. This team can handle a “road” Super Bowl game better than just about any team. If they find themselves in a hole in the third quarter, they have proven they can erase that deficit with their weapons and their leadership. The Rams have proven that no lead they create is too safe, and it is in their DNA to let it all slip through their fingers against a team that can take advantage of the opportunity, like the Bengals. Here’s the big question. Will the Rams score more than 3 points in this Super Bowl, unlike their pitiful output in Super Bowl LIII*? Sure, mostly because they actually earned the right to be in this game unlike that one. This game will feature some huge plays and plenty of offense, but it will not be significantly high-scoring. This will be a very, very close game, but Burrow will create a legacy in this Super Bowl.

Joe Burrow’s ascendancy to elite Super Bowl Champion will look eerily familiar to the recently-retired Tom Brady, a second-year quarterback winning the title on a last-second field goal under the dome’s bright lights against another high-powered and highly-favored Rams team. It would be foolishly presumptuous to say Burrow will ultimately have the same ring-filled career arc as Brady, but he will win his first ring in his first try, in his second year, just like #12. As one leaves the game, another ascends to fill a void among the best in the game. Joe Burrow will lead Cincinnati to a razor-thin Super Bowl victory as he gets Evan McPherson in position to nail his third-consecutive game-winning field goal. With that, Cincinnati wins their elusive Super Bowl title, finally. Who Dey.

Super Bowl LVI Champion: Cincinnati Bengals

Final Score: Bengals 24 – Rams 21

Super Bowl LVI MVP: QB – Joe Burrow

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There you have it folks, another Super Bowl and another NFL season in the books. I simply can’t wait to get it all started all over again. Let’s get ready for the Saints hopefully marching toward Glendale, Arizona for Super Bowl LVII. Now it’s your turn, leave us your final score and MVP picks in the comments section below!