Super Bowl LVI is officially in the books. The Rams defeated the Bengals 23-20 to hoist their first Lombardi trophy since moving to LA, while Burrow and his Cincinnati teammates are left to ponder what could have been.
It was however a bizarre night on a few fronts, especially when you factor in some of the play calls coming in from both sidelines as the game wound down. In a highly unofficial random polling of viewers, here’s what stood out the most to those who didn’t have a rooting interest in the outcome of the game itself:
Officiating:
There were only 6 penalties called in the entire game, one of which was a brain fart of epic proportions as Vernon Hargreaves III thought he was at a high school basketball game and ran onto the field following a Bengals interception. Needless to say, the refs were letting the players play through the first 58 minutes of the game.
Unfortunately, it seems they were merely saving all their questionable calls for the Rams final drive. After swallowing their whistles for 97% of the night, including a blatant facemask on the Tee Higgins touchdown to kick off the 2nd half, they called 3 penalties in a matter of seconds in the games final moments:
- 3rd & Goal from the 8, Stafford missed Kupp but the Bengals were called for a defensive holding penalty that gave LA a fresh set of downs.
- TD nullified for unnecessary roughness/holding forced the Rams to replay the down
- Incomplete pass, Bengals called for pass interference giving the Rams the ball on the 1 yard line.
Two plays later, Stafford found Kupp for the go-ahead touchdown.
Now, that’s not to say the refs cost the Bengals the game (more on that later), but they certainly did them no favours. The series of events that ultimately became the final plays of Super Bowl LVI will live in infamy in Bengals folklore, and overshadow what was a refreshingly flag free game up until that point. Especially when you factor in how many questionable calls we had seen over the final few weeks of the season and playoffs leading up to this.
Johnny Hekker Miscues:
One of the league’s most reliable punters turned in a performance he’d like to forget. Not only did he shank one punt, and miskick another for a touchback, but he also fumbled the snap on a Rams extra point attempt.
He wound up picking up the ball and tried to salvage the play, which nearly resulted in a Cincinnati defensive score heading back the other way. Whether it was nerves, or just an off day, Hekker mercifully avoided a LONG offseason of replaying what went wrong in his head if the Rams had lost the game.
Questionable Coaching Decisions:
At times it seemed like we were on the verge of witnessing a blow out, only to watch the team almost willingly give the lead back to the other side. The Rams started off strong, going up 13-3 and looking locked in on offense, only to see the momentum shift in a massive way following the Odell Beckham Jr. injury.
From there, the Bengals moved the ball at will, scoring 17 straight points and appearing to be in the driver’s seat in the second half. But then they settled into a mushy soft spot of being neither conservative enough, or aggressive enough to close out the game.
Either go for the kill shot and keep doing what got you to that point in the game or bleed time off the clock. Zac Taylor somehow managed to do neither, and instead elected to tone down the offense but also leave more than enough time on the clock for LA not to feel rushed during their final drive.
With the clock running, twice Cincy ran the ball with ample time still on the play clock, suggesting Taylor wanted to bleed time, but also wasn’t fully confident his defense could contain the Rams, so he wanted to leave Burrow time to score on the backend. He then followed this up with an incomplete pass to Tyler Boyd to stop the clock and save LA a timeout for their final drive as well.
That kind of half in, half out inaction usually winds up costing you, and sure enough it did on Sunday as well. Would less time on the clock have changed the outcome of the game? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But either way, there were some serious shades of Andy Reid clock management going on in the late stages of the game on the Cincy sideline. And all of that is overlooking the highly questionable decision to have Samaje Perine rush the ball on the Bengals final drive instead of Mixon.
Meanwhile across the field, Sean McVay wasn’t exactly putting on a masterclass in play calling either. For someone who hangs his hat on being an offensive minded coach, the Rams certainly shrunk the playbook once OBJ went down with injury. It wasn’t until their final drive of the game that McVay and Co. seemed to remember they had Cooper Kupp on their team and began feeding him the ball.
Los Angeles may have won the game, but it wasn’t until after Rams fans went through a series of flashbacks to Super Bowl LIII and how ineffective their offense was against the Patriots. McVay was the winner, but only because it seemed like both head coaches were calling plays “not to lose” instead of going for the win.
Atmosphere:
Taking nothing away from either team (though there’s a fairly vocal portion of fans who have been making the case that neither of these two teams were truly the best in either of their respective conferences), unless you were a fan of either the Bengals or Rams, the game itself wasn’t exactly a thriller.
That has less to do with whether the teams “deserved” to be there, and more to do with how spoiled we’ve been throughout the playoffs so far in terms of OT, last second finishes, and miraculous plays. This postseason as a whole has been one of the most entertaining NFL Playoff schedules we’ve seen in decades. So perhaps it’s a case of fans having unrealistic expectations that the biggest game of them all, would provide the most entertaining product to date.
Don’t get me wrong, this was a much more watchable game than the last time McVay was in the Super Bowl, but in speaking with non-Rams/Bengals supporters, the consensus was a resounding “meh” in terms of the on field product. While the media did their best to drum up storylines around the rise of Burrow, or the Matthew Stafford redemption tour, Super Bowl LVI seemed to lack the star power that normally accompanies a major event in LA.
It also doesn’t help that 3 of the last 8 Super Bowls have featured some of the most iconic moments in postseason history (the Philly Special, the 28-3 comeback, and the Malcolm Butler interception). Stafford and Burrow are top 10 quarterbacks, but again fans have been spoiled seeing either Mahomes, Brady or Manning in the big dance for the past decade. While both may one day wind up in Canton themselves, there wasn’t the feeling that you were watching “greatness” this year.
So call it what you will, but when fans look back on the memorable Super Bowls that have taken place 20+ years down the line, this weekend is likely to get lost in the shuffle. And that’s perfectly fine if you’re a Rams fan. Because whether people look back on it fondly or not, all that matters to them is they’re World Champions.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner