Super Bowl LVI was watched by more people on Sunday 13th February than any other Super Bowl since 2017. Over 112 million NFL fans witnessed the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl LVI, after beating the Cincinnati Bengals 23 – 20. With memories of Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg’s half-time performance still fresh in everyone’s minds, let’s take a closer look at the game’s highlight points.
Cincinnati Could Have Won Their First Super Bowl
Although the final score makes it pretty obvious that this was a scintillating final, it does not tell the full story. If the Bengals could have held onto their 20-16 lead for about one-and-a-half minutes more than they did, it would have been enough for the franchise to win their first-ever Super Bowl.
In fact, the Cincinnati Bengals could have taken back the lead even after Cooper Kupp’s one-yard touchdown came from a short right pass by Stafford with 1:29 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Aaron Donald had other plans as he intercepted Burrow’s final pass attempt towards Perine.
Cincinnati Bengals: Best Moments
McPherson opened score (3-7) for the Cincinnati Bengals with his first 29-yard field goal (0:31), and he even got the extra point after Higgins’ 6-yard touchdown in the second quarter (5:52). After a dismal start, Cincinnati was once again back in the game with a score of 10–13 at the end of the 2nd Quarter.
Burrow threw a stunning, albeit a little controversial 75-yard pass right after half-time to successfully find Tee Higgins. Higgins completed his second touchdown (15:00) of the game by running another 75-yards and putting the Bengals ahead in a 16–13 lead. McPherson secured the extra point and got them further ahead at 17–13 (14:48). He also scored a 38-yard field goal in the same (third – 10:21) quarter which placed the Bengals in a dominating position with a 20–13 lead.
The Comeback by Los Angeles Rams
Thanks to M. Gay’s 41-yard field goal with 6:02 minutes left in the quarter, the third quarter ended 16–20 in favor of the Bengals, which provided the LA Rams with much better odds of making a comeback. That did not seem entirely likely though, as the Bengals kept their lead almost until the end.
How LA’s Last-Minute Comeback Affected Betting
Stafford completed his short right pass to Kupp who scored the go-ahead touchdown for six points (1:29) and Gay secured the extra one point (1:25) with less than 1:30 seconds left in the game. 23–20 in favor of the Los Angeles Rams remained the final score, as they won the trophy in their home ground (SoFi Stadium).
A lot of people would have bet money on the Bengals winning the Super Bowl LVI when there were just two minutes left on the clock. As it happens, no small amount of money was indeed staked on Cincinnati winning Super Bowl LVI at the time. As we all now know, that is not how the game turned out in the end, making way for a massive upset.
However, those that believed Stafford would get the Rams home and betted as such were rewarded handsomely because that is pretty much exactly what happened. The American National Football League 2021-22 Season might be over for now, but there is no shortage of major soccer events to bet on in 2022. If you are good at it, make use of this 888Sport sign up bonus to get free bets worth £60 on your first deposit.
The Super Bowl is Over But Live Sports Are Back
Do not forget that the NFL will start with the regular season in September, but the biggest sporting event in the world, aka the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is scheduled to be held later in November. In the meanwhile, every major club football competition, starting from the Premier League and the La Liga to the Champions League will all be huge this year with the much-missed and expected presence of a live audience in each game. After suffering two long years of a dry spell, 2022 is showing great promise already in terms of being the comeback year for the live sports industry.
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