Your guide to the 2022 Super Bowl: What to know about the Rams and Bengals, how to watch, and more
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.
In one of the most unexpected Super Bowl matchups in recent memories, the Los Angeles Rams will take on the Cincinnati Bengals — who were priced as high as 100-to-1 to win it all at some sportsbooks before the season — on Sunday with the Lombardi Trophy on the line.
It’s contest of contrasts: A Rams team packed with expensive names acquired through free agency and blockbuster trades against a Bengals squad transformed by homegrown talent and home run draft picks, and it is Los Angeles’s star-studded defense taking on Cincinnati’s explosive passing attack.
It’ll also feature the youngest coaching matchup in Super Bowl history, with 38-year-old Zac Taylor taking on his old boss, 36-year-old Sean McVay.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.
The basics
Date: Sunday, Feb. 13
Kickoff time: 6:30 p.m.
TV: NBC
Location: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.
Home team: Cincinnati
Away team: Los Angeles
Halftime entertainment: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar
National anthem: Mickey Guyton
How they got here
Cincinnati: The Bengals have come of age quickly, leaping from six combined wins over the last two seasons to a 10-7 record and their first winning season, playoff appearance, and AFC North title since 2015. Cincinnati snapped a 31-year playoff-win drought in the wild-card round, beating the Raiders at home, before notching a pair of upsets to seal the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth since 1988.
Behind the right arm of quarterback Joe Burrow, whose promising rookie season was derailed by an ACL tear but has returned as a fully-formed star in year two, and the right foot of kicker Evan McPherson, who drilled back-to-back game-winning field goals, the Bengals first knocked off the top-seeded Titans in a 19-16 slog in Nashville before heading to Kansas City to rally from a 21-3 deficit and stun Patrick Mahomes and the heavily-favored Chiefs.
Los Angeles: The Rams are back in the Super Bowl after falling at the final hurdle to the Patriots in 2019, but look much different these days, swinging huge trades for players like quarterback Matt Stafford, edge rusher Von Miller, and cornerback Jalen Ramsey and picking up receiver Odell Beckham Jr. after the Browns waived him. Los Angeles went 12-5 to win the NFC West and steamrolled the division rival Cardinals in the wild-card round before hanging on to stave off a 24-point comeback from Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.
The Rams’ defense came up big in the NFC championship game, with All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald blowing through the 49ers’ offensive line to force quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo into a desperate heave and game-sealing interception to punch the Rams’ ticket to another Super Bowl.
Notables
⋅Only one team has ever won the Super Bowl the year after winning four games or fewer: the 1999 St. Louis Rams, who bounced back from a 4-12 season in 1998 to win the franchise’s most recent championship. The Bengals could become the second on Sunday.
⋅Joe Burrow is the first quarterback picked No. 1 overall to lead his team to the Super Bowl within two seasons, and the first second-year quarterback to reach the big game since Russell Wilson did so with the Seahawks in 2014.
⋅ With a win, Burrow would become the first quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy, a collegiate national championship, and a Super Bowl.
⋅Sunday is just the second Super Bowl matchup between quarterbacks picked No. 1 overall, with Burrow and Stafford following in the footsteps of Cam Newton and Peyton Manning in 2016.
⋅McVay has a chance to become the youngest Super Bowl-winning coach in NFL history; he turned 36 on Jan. 24, and would surpass Mike Tomlin, who was a few weeks short of 37 when he led the Steelers to the title in 2009. At a combined 74 years old, McVay and Taylor are just a few years older than Bruce Arians, the oldest Super Bowl-winning coach at 68 last season.
⋅Sunday will feature two of the game’s most electric receivers: the Rams’ Cooper Kupp, who led the league with a 16 touchdowns and a record-setting 1,947 yards (with an extra game in Week 18), and the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase, who overcame preseason drop troubles to rack up the most receiving yards (1,455) by a rookie in the Super Bowl era to go along with 13 touchdowns, second only to Randy Moss’s 17 in 1998.
⋅Led by Donald, the Rams boast one of the league’s best pass rushes with 50 sacks, third in the NFL. Burrow, meanwhile, was the only quarterback to be sacked more than 50 times this season behind an often-porous offensive line.
⋅ The Rams are the second team to vie for the Super Bowl in their home stadium and could become the second to win it all on home turf after last year’s Buccaneers did the same in Tampa.
⋅ McPherson is on a historic kicking postseason streak, a perfect 12-for-12 on field goals (including two walk-off, game-winning efforts) and 4-for-4 on extra points. The rookie, a fifth-round pick in 2021, holds the record for most field goals without a miss in a single postseason and is nine points from tying Adam Vinatieri’s postseason scoring record (49 points in 2006).
⋅ The Bengals’ high-powered offense is led by a draft-acquired quintet: Burrow, Chase, Tee Higgins, Joe Mixon, and Tyler Boyd, all taken in the first or second round since 2016. The Rams, on the other hand, have not made a first-round selection since taking quarterback Jared Goff No. 1 overall in 2016 and do not own a first-round pick until 2024, having dealt much of their draft capital for their biggest contributors.
⋅ As the “home team” the Bengals have chosen to wear their black home jerseys while the Rams will don white tops; teams wearing white have won 14 of the last 17 Super Bowls.
Super Bowl officials
Referee Ron Torbert (first Super Bowl) is joined by umpire Bryan Neale (first), down judge Derick Bowers (second), line judge Carl Johnson (third), field judge Rick Patterson (third), side judge Keith Washington (first), back judge Scott Helverson (third), and replay official Roddy Ames (first).
Postseason shares
Players on each team are set to collect a solid check regardless of the outcome on Sunday; winners will pocket $150,000, with a $75,000 share the consolation for players on the losing side.
| Game | Team | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Wild Card Game | (Div. Winner) | $42,500 |
| (Other) | $37,500 | |
| Divisional Playoff Game | $42,500 | |
| Conference Championship Game | $65,000 | |
| Super Bowl | (Winning Team) | $150,000 |
| (Losing Team) | $75,000 | |
| Pro Bowl | (Winning Team) | $80,000 |
| (Losing Team) | $40,000 |
Last Super Bowl appearances and records
Cincinnati: The Bengals last reached the Super Bowl in 1988 and are 0-2, with losses in 1981 and 1988 both coming at the hands of Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers.
Los Angeles: The Rams are in the Super Bowl for a fifth time (their third in their current home city), with a 1-3 record in the previous four trips; McVay and Co. were held to just 3 points in their last trip, a loss to the Patriots in 2019, with the franchise’s lone championship the triumph of the 1999 squad, led by Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, and “The Greatest Show on Turf.”
Past Super Bowls in Los Angeles
LA Memorial Coliseum
I: Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10
VII: Miami 14, Washington 7
Rose Bowl
XI: Oakland 32, Minnesota 14
XIV: Pittsburgh 31, LA Rams 19
XVII: Washington 27, Miami 17
XXI: NY Giants 39, Denver 20
XXVII: Dallas 52, Buffalo 17
Youngest winning coaches in Super Bowl history
| Coach | Team | Super Bowl | Years | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Tomlin | Pittsburgh | XLIII | 36 | 323 |
| Jon Gruden | Tampa Bay | XXXVII | 39 | 162 |
| John Madden | Oakland | XI | 40 | 274 |
| Joe Gibbs | Washington | XVII | 42 | 66 |
| Chuck Noll | Pittsburgh | IX | 43 | 7 |
About the Lombardi Trophy
From the NFL: The winning team receives permanent possession of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, a sterling silver trophy created by Tiffany & Co. The trophy was named for the late Vince Lombardi before Super Bowl V.
The trophy is a regulation-size silver football mounted in a kicking position on a pyramid-like stand of three concave sides. The trophy stands 20.75 inches tall, weighs 107.3 ounces, and is valued in excess of $25,000.
Future Super Bowls
Super Bowl LVII: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz., Feb. 5, 2023
Super Bowl LVIII: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Feb. 11, 2024
Super Bowl LIX: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Feb. 9, 2025
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