All eyes are on Hollywood as Super Bowl LVI approaches on Feb. 13. The 2021-22 NFL season will come to a close on Sunday at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, and either the Cincinnati Bengals or hometown Los Angeles Rams will be crowned the champion. This season has been a long one as the league adopted an 18-week schedule from the previous 17-week slate of games.
The season will be remembered for both the on-field performances and off-field drama. Five consecutive playoff games ended on the last play of the game, and during the regular season, Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T. J. Watt broke the NFL single-season sacks record. Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady played as great as he ever has in his last season, calling it quits just last week. Likely MVP Aaron Rodgers also had a historic season, but his season will be summed down to his statements about his COVID-19 immunization status.
The Super Bowl is expected to be nothing short of thrilling, just like the games leading up to this point were. Wheel staff offered some predictions on what team will take Super Bowl LVI.
Cincinnati Bengals
Aidan Vick, senior editor: Bet on Burrow to bring home the bacon
Bengals QB Joe Burrow is just a winner. He oozes self-confidence; no matter what the odds, Burrow thinks he can win the game. Though this may read as obnoxious egotism in a lesser player, it’s exactly what led the Bengals to the Super Bowl in the AFC. The best quarterbacks never doubt themselves no matter how poorly things may be going, and Burrow seems molded after legends like Joe Montana and Tom Brady in this regard.
Rams QB Matthew Stafford is undoubtedly a great player, but I question his and Rams head coach Sean McVay’s ability to play all four quarters without losing focus. The Rams nearly gave up a 24-point lead to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round and sputtered on offense for much of the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers. Football is obviously about more than the QB, but with both teams having plenty of talent at skill positions and fairly balanced rosters — other than the Bengals’ horrendous offensive line — Burrow will make the difference for Cincinnati. After back-to-back seasons of less than five wins, the Bengals have already far exceeded expectations, so why not add a Super Bowl win?
Sophia Ling, opinion editor: Cats are better than male sheep
I started watching the Super Bowl for the halftime show, but it eventually became an annual tradition with my family friends. Slowly, I began to piece together how football worked and all the different rules involved. Apparently, you can’t just have each player tackle another from the opposing team and have the QB run down to the end zone. Disappointing. I have no qualifications whatsoever to be making a credible prediction, but I do believe the Bengals will win.
Though Bengal cats are now domesticated, they originate from a leopard cat ancestry. Inherently, their genes require them to have lots of exercise in order to stay healthy and fit. Additionally, bengal cats are born runners, making them the ideal mascot for a football team compared to rams. The liveliness and energy that bengal cats bring is far different from the gruffness and strength of rams. Rams may be tough, able to withstand many different types of temperatures and conditions, but they live in mountains and not on turf-ground. Unlike the light footed agility of bengal cats, rams’ hooves are not made for running or avoiding anything that might come into contact with their large horns.
Finally, cats are better than sheep. Sheep are fluffy and cute from afar. Cats are vicious, sly and energetic; they embody the duality of angels and devils – seemingly cute and cuddly, but also calculating and manipulative. My bet is on the Bengals, and of course, my cat, Michael, at home.
Andrew Feld, staff writer: Opportunistic Bengals will seize this opportunity
It’s an even split between Wheel writers and editors, and while I would love to alter the tie, I cannot do so here. From the moment the playoffs began, I made the bold prediction that Burrow would lead Cincinnati to the promised land. I followed his College Football Playoff National Championship run at Louisiana State University (LSU) and have found myself glued to Bengals games for no other reason than pure enjoyment. But, in making my prediction, I’d be remiss if I did not have any numbers to back me up. Let’s look at the stats.
For one, the Bengals win the turnover battle. They’ve taken the ball away from other teams seven times this postseason and only given it up twice. By contrast, the Rams have an even turnover margin. Why is this important? Well, the team with fewer turnovers has won 49 of the 55 previous Super Bowls. Second, the Bengals have many great wide receivers. If tight end C.J Uzomah is healthy enough to play, he complements an excellent receiving corps that already boasts the talents of WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. These three each average over 10 yards per catch, making for an explosive passing attack that can exploit a 21st-ranked Rams passing defense that has given up the big plays.
Finally, while it may seem counterintuitive, the team with the better regular season record is 1-11 in the last 12 Super Bowls. Well, this year the Rams went 12-5 and the Bengals finished 10-7. Look for the streak to continue this year.
Jenna Daly, asst. sports editor: Everyone likes seeing the underdog succeed… well, almost everyone
If I’m being honest, I despise football and its obnoxious manners. There’s nothing that I hate more than trying to have a conversation with someone and having them interrupt me by screaming at the TV, or worse, the sports betting app on their phone. That said, I’m choosing the Bengals to win. Both teams have an atrocious Super Bowl record, so it’ll be a big deal for either team to win. I also know the Rams are favored by 4.5, which I don’t really know the full meaning behind, but I know that it’s a decent amount and probably should’ve been higher. Personally, I’m a big fan of an underdog story, and I think people take sports betting too seriously. Plus, Burrow seems like a guy who wants an excuse to party and the only way to do that is to win this game. Also, I like his pre-game outfits.
Los Angeles Rams
Claire Fenton, asst. sports editor: The Bengals are a fluke, not a fairy tale story
Not surprisingly, hardly any of my Wheel colleagues are majoring in a STEM-based discipline. As a Quantitative Sciences major, I sometimes feel as though my lack of humanities classes puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to crafting arguments and penning engrossing articles. When it comes to this year’s Super Bowl predictions, however, I believe that my data analytics training will give me the upper hand.
The statistical concept of regression to the mean is simple: extreme outcomes tend to be followed by moderate ones. In other words, trends that appear to be due to veritable skill, or lack thereof, in the short-term reveal themselves to be nothing more than brief spurts of luck within an otherwise average performance. Examples of regression to the mean appear in every aspect of the sports world, dispelling the myth of a “hot hand” in basketball and explaining why golfers who crush the first nine holes at The Masters flounder on the back half.
What does all this have to do with my Super Bowl prediction? Frankly, I believe the Bengals’ luck has run out. They barely won the AFC North after posting two embarrassing losses to the Browns and finishing with a 10-7 overall record. They survived the Wild Card Round and just eked past the Tennessee Titans before stunning the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime. The other shoe is bound to drop at some point; last year, I watched the same cruel twist of fate happen to my hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, who started the season 11-0 before losing four of their final five games. It’s a monumental year for Cincinnati football, and I understand the appeal of buying into its Cinderella story, but the numbers are telling me to jump off the Bengals bandwagon.
Michael Mariam, sports editor: Horns up in Hollywood
Last year, I correctly chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to defeat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl because of Brady, even at 43 years old. While Brady is now retired and won’t be competing, the years of experience in the league will allow Stafford to prevail under Hollywood’s bright lights. Stafford was acquired by the Rams from the Detroit Lions in a trade last offseason that has so far paid off. In his 13th season, he’s thrown the second-most touchdowns and has had the third-most passing yards in the NFL. Stafford has also been able to rely on star wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr. to overwhelm defenses in man coverage.
In order to stop both receivers, the defense must have two top-tier cornerbacks. Throughout the regular season, the Bengals allowed the seventh-most passing yards and recorded the sixth-most penalties on defense. Bengals CB Eli Apple came up with a crucial stop last game, but lining up against either Kupp or Beckham Jr. will be a mismatch that Stafford will look to exploit.
On the other side of the ball, there’s no denying the strength of the connection between Burrow and Chase, former LSU teammates. However, the league’s best CB Jalen Ramsey will cause trouble for Chase. In addition, the Rams’ pass rush of future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald and former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller will be too much to handle. The Bengals have a weak offensive line as Burrow was sacked nine times in their divisional-round game against the Titans. Miller and Donald will be able to wreak havoc in front of their home fans and keep the Lombardi Trophy in Los Angeles.
Ethan Mayblum, staff writer: Trust Vegas, this is the Rams game to lose
The Rams should win this game. As I type this, I cannot believe that it is a hot take among my fellow writers. People love to see a Cinderella story, and they love Burrow’s swagger. Many arguments in favor of Cincinnati seem to revolve around this narrative that Burrow is just a winner; as if the game of football is played by just a single player and not 22 on the field. But, it’s not the case.
Just take a look at the positional breakdown for each team. First, and most obvious, comes QB. Stafford and Burrow are nearly identical across several statistics. Both have a touchdown to interception ratio of 2.4, and while Stafford has more passing yards and TDs, Burrow has been more efficient in terms of completions and yards per attempt. The difference in this matchup will likely be determined outside of QB. In terms of weapons on offense, Kupp just completed one of the best receiving seasons of all-time, and they also added Beckham Jr. mid-season. While Chase and Higgins are great, it’s hard to argue that they are better than the Rams WRs.
The major difference between the two teams comes in terms of the offensive line, with Los Angeles ranking seventh and the Bengals ranking 20th. There’s a reason why Burrow took a league-leading 51 sacks compared to only 30 for Stafford. Donald and the Rams’ defense should dominate the line of scrimmage. It doesn’t matter how great Burrow is if he has less than a second to throw the ball. The breakdown of players on each team could go on for far longer, but for every star that the Bengals have, the Rams have more to match. The Rams have all the weapons in place to win this game, and there is a reason they are 4.5 point favorites. This is their title to lose.
