Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 56: The NFL title game matchup nobody expected
The Super Bowl 56 matchup is set. Here are the highlights from the conference championship games:
- The Bengals and Rams will square off in Super Bowl 56 on Feb. 13. This is not the Super Bowl matchup anybody expected.
- The Rams will be the second team ever, and second in as many years, to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
- The Bengals shocked almost everybody, including oddsmakers, in reaching Super Bowl 56.
- What the heck happened to the Chiefs in the second half of the AFC championship?
For the first time since the 1988 season, the Cincinnati Bengals are in the Super Bowl.
For the second time in four seasons, the Los Angeles Rams are in the Super Bowl.
The Bengals, who finished the 2019 season at 2-14, have pulled off a remarkable turnaround, joining the 1981 San Francisco 49ers and 2003 Carolina Panthers as the only teams to reach the Super Bowl two years after owning the league's worst record.
The Rams will attempt to be the first Los Angeles-based team to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy since the Los Angeles Raiders won the title during the 1983 season.
Conference championship analysis
- 32 things we learned: The Super Bowl 56 matchup is set, and few – if anyone – could have predicted even a few weeks ago that the Bengals would meet the Rams for the title.
- Winners and losers: The Rams knew what they were doing by acquiring Matthew Stafford, and the Bengals' defense shut down Patrick Mahomes in the second half.
- Rams found a way to deliver: A six-game losing streak to the 49ers hung over the Rams entering Sunday, but Los Angeles answered concerns with a resilient performance, Mike Jones writes.
- Bengals shocked everyone with Super Bowl ascension: Even Joe Burrow said he wouldn't have believed a Bengals Super Bowl run if told before the season. Now, Cincinnati has made others into believers, Jarrett Bell writes.
- Grim Reaper isn't a homer as Chiefs have epic meltdown: This trip to the Super Bowl turned at the end of the first half, when the Chiefs wasted the opportunity to pad their lead against the Bengals.
Divisional playoff's biggest moments
- Bengals on brink of defying 200/1 odds to win Super Bowl: At one point early in the season, Cincinnati’s odds to win the Super Bowl were 200/1 at sportsbooks.
- ‘I’ve got to be better’: Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes blamed himself for his team's late collapse in the AFC championship game loss to the Bengals.
- 'I deserve all the criticism my way': 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt accepted blame for a dropping interception in the fourth quarter.
- Hero play gone wrong: Jimmy Garoppolo's likely final pass with the 49ers ended with an ugly interception.
- 'Yeah, she's fired up': It was hard to tell who was more excited about the Rams' Super Bowl berth, Matthew Stafford or his wife.
- 'I make too much money' for fake diamonds: Joe Burrow told reporters after the Bengals' AFC championship win that the diamonds in his "JB9" necklace are "definitely real."
- 'Is this SoFi or is this Levi's?' 49ers fans flooded SoFi Stadium, home of the Rams, for the NFC championship game.
- 'I didn't hear anything you just said': On site at Arrowhead Stadium for the AFC championship game, CBS broadcasters struggled to hear anything over the loud halftime music.
Conference championship rundown
- Cincinnati Bengals 27, Kansas City Chiefs 24 (OT): The Bengals pulled off an 18-point comeback in regulation, then sealed the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance since the 1988 season in overtime.
- Los Angeles Rams 20, San Francisco 49ers 17: The "all-in" Rams become only the second team in the Super Bowl era, and the second in as many years, to host the NFL’s championship game in their own stadium.
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