The Biggest Game of the Season: How Each Team Got There and Who is Going to Win

By: Arham Shah (Guest Contributer)

On Sunday, February 13th, the National Football League will conclude its 102nd season with the “Big Game”. This year, the game will be held in Sofi Stadium near Los Angeles California. The teams this year will be the National Football Conference champion Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference champion Cincinnati Bengals. This will be the 56th game between the respective champions, with the NFC winning 28 times and the AFC winning 27 times. So how did each get to the Big Game and which team is going to be the Champions of the 102nd season of the National Football League?

Los Angeles Rams

The LA Rams have been a competitor in the NFC for the past 4 years. Known for their stifling defense and high fly offense, the Rams made the Big Game in 2019. While they lost to the New England Patriots in a low-scoring, 13-3 affair, they have consistently made the playoffs led by stars Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp. Coach Sean McVay was known as one of the brightest young coaches in the NFL. The same year they had reached the Big Game, the Rams also had the 2nd best offense led by young quarterback Jared Goff, who threw for 4688 yards with 32 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions.

The next year, the Rams dropped to 9 and 7 and missed the playoffs. While the offense had a hot start, scoring 20 in the first 5 games of the season, it hit a roadblock from weeks 6 to 12, due to the bad play in the midseason, they were just short of making the playoffs. Jared Goff threw for only 22 touchdowns and had 16 interceptions.

In the 2020-2021 season, Jared Goff knew he had to step up, but the offense in total produced less than ideal numbers. This season, the Rams had the #1 ranked defense in the entire league, averaging less than 19 points per game. Defensive End Aaron Donald led this defense with 13 and a half sacks and right alongside him was Outside Linebacker Leonard Floyd, who had a 10 and a half-sack season. Superstar corners Jalen Ramsey, Troy Hill, and Darious Williams made the secondary a menace to opposing quarterbacks who tried their best to throw the ball. Even with the star-studded defense, the offense could not score. The team ended with a 10 and 6 record and would make it to the divisional round before they lost to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in a one-sided, 32-18 game which resulted in Jared Goff not being able to find holes in a Green Bay secondary which would be torn up by Tom Brady the next week during the NFC championship. The defense did not do well either, as Aaron Rodgers threw for 2 touchdowns and ran in for a third while Aaron Jones rushed in for one touchdown which would seal the game for Green Bay.

The Rams knew what they had to do, they had to trade away Jared Goff for a better QB to lead them to the Big Game again. On January 30, 2021, the Rams and the Detriot Lions pulled off one of the biggest trades of the 2021 offseason, the Rams traded Jared Goff, 2 first-round draft picks, and a third-round draft pick for Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. Stafford had been playing consistently good football for a long time. He threw for 4000 yards every year from 2011 to 2017 and again in 2020. The Rams hoped for Stafford to fill in that spot that Goff could not. This trade became the highlight of the 2021 offseason.

Beginning the 2021 season, the Rams hit the ground running, Matthew Stafford was playing a former divisional rival and a team he has owned from the beginning, the Chicago Bears, the Rams won the game comfortably in a 34 to 14 game. Stafford threw for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. LA looked like the contender just like everyone had called them. The next 7 weeks showed more of that same, strong LA team. By midseason, the Rams were a very strong 7-1 and looked to be competing for the NFC 1st round bye, which would mean they would get a week break during the first round of the NFL Playoffs. This first-round bye system was introduced before the 2020 season. Before this system, 2 teams would get a break in the wild-card round of the playoffs, the new system makes the playoff race for the conferences more competitive.

The next three weeks would be brutal for Rams fans, the team lost to three playoff teams, the Titans, Packers, and 49ers. The 49ers game would be especially threatening as it showed one of Sean McVay’s biggest flaws. The flaw was his inability to find a game plan against Kyle Shanahan’s offense. This problem would be brought up again in week 18 of the regular season, as the two teams would go into overtime. For the 49ers, week 18 was a must-win game to make it into the playoffs. For the Rams, this was a matter of 3rd or 4th seed. In overtime, Matthew Stafford would throw a game-losing interception to Ambry Thomas.

Even with these four losses, and one more against the Cardinals early in the season, the Rams were unstoppable, but two late editions to the squad would solidify this team. The first player added to the Rams squad would be former Defensive Rookie of the Year and MVP of the Big Game Von Miller. The linebacker was traded from the Denver Broncos to Los Angeles in exchange for a 2022 2nd round pick and a 2022 3rd round pick. Miller would add 5 sacks to his season with the Rams and helped McVay’s defensive scheme.

The second major player added to the squad would be Odell Beckham Junior. Beckham would be granted release from Cleveland on November 5th and would officially be a Ram on the 11th of November. He and All-Pro Wide Receiver Cooper Kupp could maneuver their ways through any secondary and with the help of Matthew Stafford, could win any game by pure offense.

Even with all these great players, every team that wants to make it to the big game needs a good coach. Sean McVay is just that. McVay has been on other NFL teams before he became the head coach of the Rams, this included being the assistant wide-receiver coach on the Buccaneers and was the assistant tight-ends coach, tight-ends coach, and offensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins(Now The Washington Football Team/New name Washington Commanders). For the 2021-22 season, on offense, he was mostly passing around 59 percent of the time. McVay was able to have so much success due to wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr. McVay’s defense looked mostly like an umbrella defense. With 4 defensive backs creating a U shape around the football, 2 or three linebackers playing on the edge of the box with 4 or 5 pass rushers. The defense was very effective, and the Rams had the 21st best defense in the league.

The Rams are known to have a pretty good playoff record. The question is can Stafford carry on his success in the playoffs? That question was answered very quickly. He led the Rams to an easy win against the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC wild-card round with a score of 34-11. Stafford threw for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. The next week, he shined again against the defending champions and the G.O.A.T. himself, Tom Brady. Stafford and the Rams were up 27-3 before Brady led the Bucs to a 24-0 run in which he tied the game at 27 all. Everyone in the crowd thought Brady had pulled off something similar to the comeback he led in 2017, but Stafford pulled together one last drive, which ended with a field goal by Matt Gay to win the game in the waning minutes of the second half. During the NFC Championship game, it was a battle of coaches, Sean McVay was on a 6 game losing streak against his former colleague Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers were up 17-7 after the 3rd quarter before Stafford again pulled together a 13 point comeback to beat the 49ers and advance to the Big Game.

Cincinnati Bengals

2 years ago, the Cincinnati Bengals were the worst team in the NFL. They ended the season 2-14, and much needed to be improved for this team to even become a playoff contender. They were 30th in average points scored and 25th in points allowed. Team quarterback Andy Dalton threw for a less than impressive 3400 yards and had a touchdown to interception ratio of 1.3:1, this was added onto a devastating torn ligament to AJ Green. Overall, the Bengals were a hot mess since the early 1990s. The team hadn’t won a playoff game since 1991 and had never won a road playoff game in franchise history. The team was on a downward spiral since they lost in the Wild Card round to their divisional opponent the Steelers.

Unlike other sports leagues, the NFL has a very simple way of deciding who gets which pick in the draft. The worst team from last year’s season will get the number one pick in each of the 7 rounds of the draft while the champion of last year will get the worst pick in each round of the draft. So when the Bengals had the worst record in the league during the 2019-2020 season, they got the number 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft. Using this draft pick, the Bengals picked the best player they thought would help them be pulled out of the losing cycle. This man was Joseph Lee Burrow from Louisiana State University(LSU).

People had high hopes for Joe Burrow, he was 26-3 at LSU and 15-0 his final year in college. He won the Heisman award which is given to the best player or most outstanding player of the college football season. With him being drafted number one overall, Cincinnati fans believed he was capable of starting immediately and so did the front office. One week after they had selected Burrow, they had cut Andy Dalton off their roster.

With Dalton off the roster, everything seemed set for Burrow and the Bengals to complete their rebuild for 2020. Burrow’s regular-season debut was a loss, but he showed promising talent. This excited many Cincinnati fans, who had been extremely excited for the debut of their new “franchise quarterback”

Unfortunately for Cincinnati, something happened in Week 11 of the season. Jonathan Allen and Montez Sweat came in rushing from both sides of the offensive line, Burrow tried to throw but Allen hit his left leg and Sweat hit him high, both of their force caused stress on Burrow’s left knee. Burrow was carted off the field and it was later revealed that he had torn both his ACL and MCL, Burrow would be done for the season.

The Bengals ended the season 4-11-1, this would be a disappointing year for the team, but they did get the 5th pick in the 2021 draft. After seeing what happened to Joe Burrow, and Joe Mixon in Week 6, many thought the Bengals would have picked Penei Sewell, the Offensive tackle from Oregon, but they did not pick him. A highly criticized move throughout the offseason, the Bengals selected Ja’Marr Chase. Chase was a wide receiver from LSU with great speed and power, he was smaller than most wide receivers, but he acted quite like a receiving back or a running back who is good at catching the ball. He had powerful legs and strong arms. He and Burrow would light up throughout the season, Chase had over 1400 yards this season, breaking the single-season rookie record set by Justin Jefferson.

The roster had been set, players such as Burrow, Chase, Mixon, Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins, Jessie Bates, C.J. Ozumah, and many more star players made up a roster with an explosive offense and lockdown defense. While the defense ranked 17th in total defense, the team recorded 42 sacks led by a very impressive season by Trey Hendrickson.

The Bengals had a season of the ages, they finished 10-7 in arguably the hardest division in football and beating teams such as the Chiefs and Vikings. They averaged 26.6 points per game and had the 4 seed in the AFC. Burrow and Chase shined throughout the year and the defense did its job.

Like his NFC counterpart, Zac Taylor is a young coach, at 38 years old, it is only his 3rd season as head coach. He used to be a quarterback coach on the Rams and has helped develop this young team into the superstars they are today. He may be one of the most underrated coaches this season. CBS even stated in their bold predictions list that the Bengals will end 7-10 and miss the playoffs. Taylor was able to create mastery in football and turn that team into a 10-7 team that makes the playoffs. Many thought Taylor was on the hot seat when the team was 7-6 and nearly missing the playoffs.

The Bengals won the AFC North and would play the Las Vegas Raiders in the Wild Card round. That game would see some of the worst officiating the NFL has had in a playoff game since the famous LA no-call against the Saints. All referees that officiated that game would not officiate another playoff game this season. The biggest highlight of the game was when Burrow threw a touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd, but the referee called him out of bounds. Even though it was confirmed that Burrow had not stepped out of bounds, the NFL rulebook states that the play could not be ruled a touchdown as it was called dead, but the referees gave Cincinnati the touchdown anyway. The Bengals' second game came against the number 1 seed against the Tennesse Titans, who had Derrick Henry. Tennesse was the favorite to win, but the Bengals pulled off the upset and won 19-16. The AFC championship game was going to be played in Kansas City. Led by superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City was expected to steamroll the Bengals. At the beginning of the game, it looked like this would be the case, Kansas City looked to be the winners of the AFC and go to the Big Game 3 times in a row as they were up 21-3 before Burrow, at this point known as Joe Shiesty by fans for his cool nature, led a 21 point comeback to send the game into overtime at 24-24, there the Bengals defense did their job by intercepting Mahomes’ pass to Tyreek Hill and giving the offense a chance at ending the game. Burrow did his job and let rookie kicker Evan McPherson kick the game-winning field goal.

The Bengals made the playoffs through grit, determination, good draft picks, excellent roster, motivating coach, and a fanbase that is tired of seeing their team lose over, over, and over for the past 3 decades. The question is, can they face the superteam LA has created?

Who is Going to Win?

The Rams, and I do not think it's even close. The Rams have arguably the best pass rush duo in Von Miller and Aaron Donald, that's not including the other 9 players on defense. Them two alone will take 4 guys on the offensive line which leaves the rest of the line to wreak havoc for the tackles and tight ends focused on blocking them. The Bengals also have an injury in Jackson Carmen who did not practice due to back problems. This could be detrimental to the already fragile line the Bengals have. Burrow and Chase are the two main threats, and Jalen Ramsey is by far the best corner in football. He is known for holding big-name receivers like Deandre Hopkins, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and many more to low numbers. If Ramsey can anchor the secondary and if Donald and Miller can pressure a Bengals line that gave up 9 sacks against a sub-par defensive line from the Titans, Stafford won’t even have to try to score. The Bengals do not have a great secondary, and Cooper Kupp and Odell should have no problem going against Eli Apple and Chidobe Owuzie. Overall, I see the Bengals giving a good fight, but just like last year, the pass rush will overwhelm a QB and this year it will be Joe Burrow. I know a lot of people want Cinncinati to win the game this year, and I do think they will win at least one in the next decade, but this year I don’t think it will happen.

Final Score: Rams 37, Bengals 24

Predicted Stats

Passing:

Stafford: 300 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception.

Burrow: 275 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception.

Rushing:

Mixon: 70 yards, 15 attempts, 1 touchdown.

Michel: 50 yards: 13 attempts, 0 touchdowns.

Kupp: 10 yards, 3 attempts.

Chase: -2 yards, 1 attempt.

Receiving:

Kupp: 130 yards, 1 touchdown.

Higgins: 80 yards, 1 touchdown.

Chase: 55 yards, 1 touchdown.

Beckham Jr: 45 yards, 1 touchdown.

Ozumah: 45 yards.

Mixon: 38 yards.

Higbee: 35 yards.

Michel: 20 yards, 1 touchdown.

Defense:

Rams: 5.5 sacks, 1 interception, 30% QB Pressure.

Bengals: 3 sacks, 1 interception, 25% QB Pressure.

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