The NFL playoffs this season have been the most exciting in my 54 years on this earth. Well…as far I can remember anyway. From the Wild Card to the Divisional round to the Conference Championship games. Super Bowl LVI didn’t disappoint. When the smoke cleared the Los Angeles Rams were walking off with the Lombardi Trophy in a 23-20 thriller.
It seemed as though the Rams would run away with it initially when they scored early on after Cincy gambled on a 4th and 1 at the LA 49 and didn’t convert giving Sean McVay and Co. a short field. They went up 7-0 with 3:35 left in the first quarter. By the time we all blinked they were up 13-3 with 2:37 remaining in the first quarter.
Cincy kept it’s composure and with 5:37 remaining in the half Joe Mixon found Tee Hggins on 6 yard running back pass to close the gap 13-10 at the break.
After one of the greatest halftime shows in the history of the Super Bowl got everyone hyped, including the Bengals. They came out and scored 10 unanswered points in less that 5 minutes. Within 12 seconds of coming out of the break Joe Burrow hit Tee Higgins for a 75 yard touchdown and 10 seconds later the Bengals Awuzie picked off Matthew Stafford to set up the McPherson 38 yard field goal. Now the Bengals were up 20-13 with 10:15 left in the third quarter.
The Rams were struggling to run the ball and Odell Beckham Jr exits with a knee injury. It didn’t look good for the Rams at all.
However, Cooper Kupp and Stafford knew the assignment and completed it. McVay got the ball to the Triple Crown by any means necessary.
After Grey hit a 41 yard field with 5:58 remaining in the third quarter to shorten the gap to 20-16 Bengals it was Chris Brown “On and Poppin'” for the Rams defense.
Aaron Donald and company did the darn thing as they ramped up the pressure on Joe Burrow as they finished with a Super Bowl tying 7 sacks on the night.
With 1:25 left to play Stafford hit Kupp for the touchdown in the corner of the end zone.
Aaron Donald fittingly put pressure on Burrow on 4th down with 38 seconds to play to turn it over on downs. Congrats to the Rams. Well played.