The Cincinnati Bengals will face the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 56 as they look to clinch the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the very first time.
The Bengals overcame an early 21-3 deficit to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in overtime and lift their first AFC Conference Championship Trophy since 1989.
Another close matchup played out in LA as the Rams secured their first NFC Conference Championship title since 2019 after beating the San Francisco 49ers 20-17.
The final will kick off on 13 February, more than two years since the finalists last shared the field.
Wembley Stadium played host to that game back in October 2019, but for all the pandemonium, a muted encounter was served up to the crowd as the Rams came out 24-10 winners.
That match may have been disheartening, but in many ways it kickstarted a revival, transforming both teams into Super Bowl contenders today.
The Bengals ended the 2019/20 season in a bad place, with their worst record since 2002 and the number one pick in the draft.
Meanwhile the Rams, having been Super Bowl finalists in 2019, ended the subsequent season with a record of 9-7 record and failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Blame for these failures was quickly attributed to the starting quarterback at each organisation.
Andy Dalton, a once respected playmaker for the Bengals was now a washed-up gunslinger, while Jared Goff’s limited arm was considered the main culprit for the Rams’ Super bowl loss and subsequent regular season plight.
The Bengals were quick to address these problems, using their first draft pick to select Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow.
The LSU quarterback had just led his college to National Championship victory, breaking the record for total offensive yards clocked in a single season.
Burrow’s selection surprised no-one, but his ability to instantly transform his new team into a respectable outfit did.
Slowly they began to drop points on big opponents, right up until Burrow tore his ACL against Washington, which meant the Bengals unsurprisingly missed out on the playoffs once more.
In that same year the Rams, carried by the ferocious pass rush of Aaron Donald, reached the Divisional Round, only to lose to the ever-competitive Green Bay Packers.
Once again Jared Goff’s place in LA was questioned and this time his coach Sean McVay acted, sending the quarterback to Detroit in exchange for Matthew Stafford.
Trades of this ilk have become a perennial pastime for the Rams – since picking Goff in the 2016 draft the franchise have not had and will not have a first-round pick until 2024.
They frequently use picks to purchase new players on the trading block, like the infamous duo of Odell Beckham Jr and Von Miller who joined LA midway through this season from Cleveland and Denver respectively.
The trade for Stafford was maligned by many, largely because the quarterback had no playoff victories to his name, but the former Georgia man has since silenced the critics, oozing class throughout this year’s campaign.
No clearer was this displayed than in the NFC Divisional Round when the Rams began to crumble, having mounted an early 27-3 lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Amidst all the mayhem, Stafford remained poised and delivered a pinpoint pass to Cooper Kupp to set up the game winning field goal.
While the Rams have built success through free agency and trades, the Bengals have been less economically motivated.
Organisationally the Bengals are the antithesis of their Super Bowl nemesis – they cherish their draft picks.
This strategy for team building has stifled them before, but in the past two years the side have drafted impeccably.
Selecting Burrow was a formality, but picking Clemson wide receiver Tee Higgins in the second round was an underrated move which strengthened the Bengals offence.
And then the decision to select Ja’Marr Chase, a former teammate of Burrow at LSU, in the first round of the 2021 Draft and kicker Evan McPherson in the fifth round was astute business.
Since arriving in Ohio, Chase has broken the record for rookie offensive yards acquired in the playoffs while McPherson has converted game winning field goals in two consecutive knockout matches.
It is worth mentioning that the Bengals made multiple trades in the last offseason, bringing in defensive linemen Trey Hendrickson and D.J. Reader to strengthen up their pass rush.
But it was through the draft that they generated their winning formula.
And so, as the Rams and Bengals prepare to face off in Super Bowl 56, they can both look back to that game in Wembley and see how far they have come since.
The Bengals had not won a playoff game in 31 years prior to this season, last appearing in a Super Bowl in 1989.
That curse has now been broken and even with an offensive line that’s weaker than a shatterproof ruler, Burrow and his playmakers have been consistently explosive.
Fortune does, however, favour the Rams who will become the second team ever to play in a home Super Bowl, giving them an advantage in their hunt for a second Lombardi Trophy.
