On February twelfth, the Super Bowl will be played in sunny Los Angeles, California. With this being the 56th Super Bowl, many may think that it will be relatively similar to ones before; a kind of “meh” game with funny commercials and a decent halftime show. This year though, it’s going to be different. The playoffs have given fans two fantastic contenders, the venue will be world class, and the halftime show will be, in short, epic.

On one side, the Cincinnati Bengals, playing in their first Super Bowl since 1988, are the perfect underdog. Just two years ago, the Bengals came dead last in the entire NFL with their 2 win 14 loss season.

Having won the first overall pick, they chose another underdog, Joe Burrow. Burrow, an Ohio native, has spent his entire college career as an overlooked quarterback, even transferring after having his starting spot at Ohio State University by future first round pick Dwayne Haskins.

In 2019, however, Burrow felt what it was like to be a winner, leading the LSU Tigers to a National Championship along with winning the prestigious Heisman trophy.

After being selected by the Bengals, Burrow had to endure a rough rookie season. This consisted of a torn ACL, which sidelined him for the remainder of the 2020-2021 season, resulting in the Bengals having a measly 4 wins and 11 losses.

With the introduction of rookie Ja’marr Chase, and with several key free agent signings, the Bengals made a stark change to win two back to back away games in the playoffs, both with a winning field goal, and one in the hostile Arrowhead stadium in overtime, against a highly rated Kansas City Chiefs. In the end, the Bengals, or “Bungles” as opposing fans would say, have never won the Super Bowl, and the last time they played was in the 1980’s.

The Los Angeles Rams are a different story. Ever since relocating to Los Angeles, the team, in hiring of “prodigy” coach Sean Mcvay, has had a renaissance of success.

With several high profile players being traded or signed, the team is as many would say “stacked”.

Still, there was one missing piece: a quarterback.

To solve this problem, Mcvay traded for QB Matt Stafford, a talented player, but playing for a team that was mediocre at best. Stafford had spent his entire career playing for the Detroit Lions, in which he had made 3 one-off playoff appearances in all his 12 seasons on the team. This season was his first season with a winning record since 2017. The Rams have recently come close to getting the Lombardi trophy, but haven’t won since the 2000 Super Bowl, featuring “the greatest show on turf”.

With a completely new stadium, the venue is one of a kind, featuring a 360 degree video board suspended above the field, a stunning glass roof, and cutting edge design both inside and outside the structure. This makes it no surprise that the average ticket is priced at a hefty $9,723, breaking all previous average ticket price records set by all NFL games.

In addition to everything previously mentioned, the halftime show features some of the most popular performers in recent memory, including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Mary J. Beige.

With Los Angeles being one of the few entertainment capitals of the world, playing host to the most expensive stadium on the planet, and both teams’ incredible playoff journeys, this could very well be a game to watch.