Rams lead in unlikely charge

The Los Angeles Rams meet the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56 on Sunday. It’s a matchup that almost no one expected when the 2021 season began.

The Bengals were 125-1 preseason long shots to reach the Super Bowl, having won an NFL-worst two games in 2019 and then only four games last season. They've made the quickest turnaround from worst record to the Super Bowl in league history. They Rams will now become the second consecutive team to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV last season at Raymond James Stadium.

The Bengals have never won the Super Bowl while the Rams won it in 1999 when the franchise was based in St Louis.

The winning team will get to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls.

However, the Rams won't be considered the home team because that honour alternates each year between the AFC and NFC champions and this year it's the turn of the AFC winners. SoFi Stadium opened in September 2020 and has a capacity of 70,240.

This year's half-time entertainment promises to be a smash. Rappers Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar will join forces with rhythm and blues singer Mary J Blige for a spectacular 12 minutes.

 Rams acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford in a spring blockbuster trade with the Detroit Lions. Los Angeles paid a steep price to acquire Stafford, but the signal-caller has proven that he's worth the cost of admission.

Stafford spent the previous 12 seasons with the Lions, who made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. During that time, Stafford was widely considered a good quarterback stuck languishing on a bad team.

His debut Los Angeles season was fruitful, throwing for 4,886 yards and 41 touchdowns. His arm strength and willingness to throw with anticipation led to an expansion of Los Angeles' offense, which had grown a bit stale under his predecessor. His partnership with wide receiver Cooper Kupp led to one of the most productive pass-catching seasons in NFL history. Stafford was a bit inconsistent throughout this season, though, and led the league with 17 interceptions.

The Bengals selected quarterback Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft after he had come seemingly out of nowhere to put together one of the greatest college seasons of all time, which culminated in a national championship for LSU. He immediately solidified the Bengals' offense and was in the midst of a strong rookie season before tearing his ACL during the team's 10th game.

Burrow rehabbed in time for the start of the 2021 campaign. He started slowly as the team eased its way back into a pass-heavy offense throughout the year, but ultimately had a brilliant season. Burrow led the NFL in both completion percentage and yards per attempt despite being sacked a league-high 51 times, and he threw 34 touchdown passes against 14 interceptions.