Super Bowl 56: Winner, Final Box-Score Predictions for Rams vs. Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams should combine for what looks like one of the most unpredictable Super Bowl games in recent memory. 

Entering the season, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford hadn't won a playoff game in 12 years during his stint in Detroit, and Sean McVay's teams had underwhelmed after a Super Bowl appearance in 2018. The Bengals hadn't won a playoff game in 31 years and were entering Year 3 of a rebuild after totaling six wins over the prior two seasons. 

Now they're headlining Super Bowl LVI. 

Normally, it would be hard enough to predict a game with two superstar quarterbacks, which this one has. But add in some surpassed expectations and improbable feats and if nothing else, the finale to the season indeed feels super. 

    

Preview

Ed Zurga/Associated Press

The storylines, if nothing else, write themselves. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is an extension of the McVay coaching tree. Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth a longtime elite player for Cincinnati, and his departure helped accelerate the brutal end to the Marvin Lewis era. 

There's also the quarterback standoff between veteran and fast-riser. Stafford predictably excelled in McVay's offense, throwing for 4,886 yards and 41 touchdowns with 17 interceptions. The Rams weren't a lock to come out of the brutally tough NFC West, especially when Arizona shot out to a 10-2 start, but Stafford willed them along, winning five of their last six. 

Then there's Burrow, who on a reconstructed knee threw for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. He's the first of 55 quarterbacks to take 50-plus sacks and make a Super Bowl. And he did in on the back of sweeping Pittsburgh and Baltimore (then Las Vegas and Kansas City via playoff rematches). 

The Rams understand the challenge Burrow presents: 

Jalen Ramsey will have the tall task of slowing breakout Bengals rookie Ja'Marr Chase, who put up 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns while averaging a gaudy 18.0 yards per catch. 

Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd detailed why the offense understands Ramsey is the key to it all, as captured by the team's official website: "He's definitely probably the best cornerback in the NFL. He does a great job of watching film. He's just so rangy. He's a big guy, he's bigger than the average corner so that's what helps him a lot because he can cover a lot of range and he could get to a lot of spots sooner than other corners."

Conversely, the Bengals will have to slow MVP contender Cooper Kupp, who posted 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns. They will also have accounting for Odell Beckham Jr. elsewhere while Stafford sits behind one of the league's best pass-blocking offensive lines. 

Keep in mind while Taylor tries to carve out his identity independent of McVay, the Rams coach will seek redemption for the 2018 Super Bowl flop, a 13-3 loss. 

    

Box-Score Prediction 

	1	2	3	4	T
Los Angeles	7	10	3	3	23
Cincinnati	3	6	14	3	26

The Rams jumped out to big first-half leads in two of their three playoff games. The Bengals spent most of the season feeling like a second-half team. 

That latter fact was no better apparent than when the team fell behind 21-3 in the first half of the AFC title game at the Kansas City Chiefs. Burrow led the comeback, while the defense adjusted and held Patrick Mahomes' offense to just three second-half points—just like they did in Week 17 against those Chiefs, too (outscoring them 34-6 in second halves in total). 

The Rams aren't the Chiefs by any means, of course. But Cincinnati's second-half surges, McVay's well-documented struggles with timeouts and the fact near-guaranteed pressure by Aaron Donald might not faze Burrow makes it reasonable to suggest the Bengals get better as the game progresses.