Super Bowl LVI facts: How to sound smart for Los Angeles Rams vs. Cincinnati Bengals game
Super Bowl LVI is Sunday and in honor of the Big Game, we've complied 56 facts to know ahead of the Los Angeles Rams vs. Cincinnati Bengals contest.
Weave these bits of information into your conversations during the game to impress your friends and family during the broadcast.
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- TV information: How to watch Rams vs. Bengals in Super Bowl
1. The cheapest tickets for the Super Bowl currently start at over $4,000, not including fees that push it past $5,000 a seat.
2. The Rams are a 4.5-point favorite in the game.
3. Los Angeles is -205 on the money line, while Cincinnati is +170.
4. The over/under for the game is 48.5 points.
5. The game is scheduled to air on NBC at 4:30 p.m.
6. Al Michaels, who will be on the call for NBC, is set to call his 11th Super Bowl (and fifth for NBC), tying him with Pat Summerall for the most by a lead announcer on television. His contract with NBC is set to expire after the game.
7. Cris Collinsworth is the analyst. He has been with Michaels on NBC broadcasts since 2009.
8. NBC's announcing team for the game will also include sideline reporters Michele Tafoya and Kathryn Tappen and rules analyst Terry McAulay.
9. The national anthem before the game will be sung by country singer Mickey Guyton.
10. "America the Beautiful" will be sung by R&B singer Jhene Aiko.
11. Mary Mary, a gospel duo, will perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
12. The halftime show will feature Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige.
13. A 30-second ad for the game is selling for upwards of $6.5 million, a record price in Super Bowl history.
14. How did the Rams get their name? The Rams franchise, which also started out in Ohio, got its name when they were born as the Cleveland Rams in 1936 in the American Football League. An early general manager of the team was a fan of the Fordham Rams, so he picked the name for his team. The team has moved to Los Angeles, St. Louis and back to Los Angeles, but has always stayed the Rams.
15. How did the Bengals get their name? The first team to be called the Bengals began playing in Cincinnati in 1937. When Paul Brown received permission to create an American Football League team in Cincinnati in 1967, he named it the Bengals in tribute.
16. The Rams are 22-23 in playoff games since 1958, the ninth most-wins among all NFL teams during that time.
17. The Bengals are 8-14 over that same time period. Just four teams have fewer wins over that span.
18. The game is at the Los Angeles Rams' Stadium, but the Cincinnati Bengals are the home team, because it is the AFC's turn to be the host.
19. The home team gets to choose the uniform it wears in the game, and the Bengals have chosen their black jerseys with orange stripes and white pants.
20. The road team, the Rams, are going with white jerseys with blue numbers and yellow pants.
21. The road team gets to call the coin toss, but the Rams might want to lose it. Since 2014, every team that has won the coin toss in the Super Bowl has lost the game.
22. The Rams were not supposed to be here. They were the No. 4 seed in the NFC and had to beat the No. 2-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round and then the No. 6 seeded San Francisco 49ers to make the game.
23. The Rams went 12-5 in the regular season and won the NFC West.
24. The Bengals were really not supposed to be here. They were the No. 4 seed in the AFC, but had to upset the No. 1 seeded Tennessee Titans in the divisional round and the No. 2 seeded Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game.
25. The Bengals went 10-7 in the regular season and won the AFC North.
26. The Bengals had not won a playoff game before this season since 1990.
27. This is the first time in Super Bowl history that two No. 4 seeds will face each other.
28. This is the second time in Super Bowl history that a team is playing at its home stadium. The Tampa Buccaneers were the first to do so last season.
29. The Rams are making their fifth Super Bowl appearance. They lost to the New England Patriots in the 2018 season, 13-3 in their most recent appearance.
30. The Bengals have never won the Super Bowl. They lost to the 49ers in 1981 and 1988, their previous two appearances.
31. The Rams last won the Super Bowl in 1999 with a 23-16 win over the Titans. They were the St. Louis Rams then.
32. These teams didn't play this season and they have never faced off in a championship game.
33. Matthew Stafford, the starting quarterback of the Rams, and Joe Burrow, the starting quarterback of the Bengals, were both No. 1 overall NFL draft picks.
34. Stafford was the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NFL draft out of Georgia.
35. Burrow was the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft out of LSU.
36. Stafford was 0-3 in the playoffs before this season after 12 years with the Detroit Lions. He is now 3-3 overall in the postseason after wins over the Cardinals, Buccaneers and 49ers this postseason.
37. Burrow is 3-0 in the NFL playoffs in his career.
38. Stafford is the Super Bowl MVP favorite, at +100 odds to win the award, while Burrow is +220.
39. Stafford's main target is Cooper Kupp, who went to Eastern Washington and was the seventh wide receiver drafted in 2017.
40. Burrow's main target is Ja'Marr Chase, a rookie out of LSU that played with Burrow in college. He went No. 5 overall in the 2021 NFL draft.
41. Kupp had 145 catches for 1,947 yards receiving last season, second in both categories all time (albeit in one more game in the season).
42. Chase had 1,455 yards his rookie season, breaking a Bengals record.
43. Sony Michel led the Rams in rushing this season with 845 yards on 208 attempts, with four touchdowns.
44. Joe Mixon led the Bengals in rushing with 1,205 yards on 292 attempts and 13 touchdowns.
45. Safety Jordan Fuller led the Rams with 113 total tackles, but he is out for the season with an injury.
46. Defensive lineman Aaron Donald had 12.5 sacks for the Rams this season.
47. Linebacker Logan Wilson had 100 tackles to lead the Bengals this season.
48. Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson led the team with 14 sacks.
49. If it comes down to kicking, veteran Matt Gay went 6-6 for 20-29 yards on the season, 15-15 from 30-39, 7-8 from 40-49 and 4-5 from 50-plus yards on his field goal attempts.
50. Bengals kicker Evan McPherson, a rookie, went 5-5 from 20-29 yards on his field goal attempts and 8-8 from 30-39 yards, 6-9 from 40-49 yards and 9-11 from 50-plus.
51. McPherson has gone 16-for-16 on kicks in the playoffs.
52. Rams coach Sean McVay is only 36 years old.
53. Bengals coach Zac Taylor is only 38 years old.
54. They are the youngest pair of coaches in the Super Bowl in history.
55. Taylor was on McVay's coaching staff before he took the Bengals coaching job in 2019.
56. The Super Bowl in 2023 is scheduled for Feb. 12 and will be played at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals.
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.