Super Bowl LVI: Did you know?

The Super Bowl is my favorite event of the year, so that’s why it’s so disappointing when it’s predictable, and it often is. Check out AS USA’s Jeff May’s list of Super Bowls which actually weren’t a letdown here.

I have high expectations for this year’s Super Bowl between the Bengals and Rams. For one thing, if you watched any of the playoffs this post season, you know that it’s been one of the most exciting post seasons in quite some time. For another, there are just so many facts about these teams that make it all the more impressive that they made it this far. Not to mention, the players themselves have intriguing storylines, quarterbacks Joe Burrow being a young super sack-able newbie and Matthew Stafford spending 12 unimpressive, nothing-to-show-for seasons with the Lions, for example.

Here are a few more facts about the teams that make Super Bowl LVI that much more interesting.

Bengals Facts

The Bengals are the first team to go 30 years or more without winning a playoff game and then break that streak with a Super Bowl appearance.

Former LSU teammates Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase have never lost a postseason game together (2-0 in college, 3-0 in the NFL).

Ja'Marr Chase has the most combined regular-season and postseason yards gained by a receiver on a pass play by a rookie in NFL history (1,734).

Joe Burrow will play in the Super Bowl just two years after winning the National Championship with LSU. He will become the fourth quarterback to win a consensus college national title as a quarterback and then go on to play in a Super Bowl, joining Cam Newton, Joe Namath, and Joe Montana.

Joe Burrow was sacked 51 times in the regular season, the most of any quarterback. He will be the first quarterback to be sacked more than 50 times and play in the Super Bowl that same year.

Rams Facts

The Rams were in the Super Bowl just three years ago (a 13-3 loss to the Patriots), but only five of the 22 players who started in that game are still on the team: Tyler Higbee, Andrew Whitworth, Rob Havenstein, Robert Woods (on injured reserve since Nov. 24 with a torn ACL) and Aaron Donald.

Cooper Kupp won the NFL’s rare Triple Crown as the leader in yards, catches, and touchdowns, becoming just the fourth player to do so since the 1970’s merger.

In the Rams' NFC Championship win, Kupp broke Michael Irvin's 25-year-old record for most 100-yard games in a season, including playoffs, logging his 13th time eclipsing the century mark.

Matthew Stafford has played in 188 career games, including the postseason. The quarterback with the most games in his career before his first Super Bowl was Johnny Unitas, who appeared in 191 games before Super Bowl V.

Stafford, 33, set career highs in completion percentage (67.2) and passing touchdowns (41) this year. Only Tom Brady (43) threw more TDs