I am rooting hard for the Bengals.

But I think that the Rams just have too many good players. When you are picking between the team that is clearly better and the team that keeps defying the odds, you are better off just picking the better team.

All of the pro-Bengals points: "Stafford can't win in the playoffs" or "Joe Burrow just knows how to win" are the sort of mushy things that tend to fall away in the face of "The Rams have Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey and Von Miller and Cooper Kupp and OBJ" and "The Bengals O-line is below average."

I'll take the Rams +4 and hope that I'm wrong.

I was thinking that, should they win, the Bengals would probably be in the discussion for the worst regular season team to ever win the Super Bowl. It is debatable. It looks like there have been three 9-7 teams that have ever made it, with the 2011 Giants the only team to win ('08 Cardinals and '79 Rams lost), but every 10-6 win team that has ever made the Super Bowl has won ('88 49ers, '07 Giants, '10 Packers, and '12 Ravens). The Bengals would have a little better winning percentage than the '11 Giants. Both teams were also 4-seeds that advanced to the Super Bowl.

Fun little site: Error - Champs or Chumps

The Titans have evolved into a decent pass rushing team. They shredded the Bengals line and only a sequence of peculiar other things kept Cinti from losing that game by 2TD, as usually happens when you give up 8 or 9 sacks.

Doesn't it feel like the Rams, who have the best defensive front player in a generation basically at his peak, have all told a better pass rush than the Titans?

Last year, there was this undercurrent about the Chiefs' line being so ravaged by injures that it could change the game. Two drives into it, it was clearly the case - the Bucs offense didn't need to win the game, they just had to not make ghastly enough mistakes to lose it. The KC OL/TB DL mismatch was so profound the game was a built-in rout.

I don't know, but... most of my thinking about this game is less about complex matchups and just about whether this exact matchup (CIN OL v LAR D7) ends up washing out any more subtle differences in speed, scheme, grit, etc.

I also wonder what would happen if he stayed an extra year. He was in a draft class very deep at QB. And this upcoming draft seems incredibly weak. Good chance he would have been a 1st rounder.

I just realized I haven't watched a Superbowl since the Falcons broke my heart. I think I may have watched the end of the Eagles win just to see the Pats lose. But since then, nah.

Heck I barely follow the NFL anymore. That Superbowl just completely broke me as an NFL fan. Huh.

And no, I don't intend to watch on Sunday

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On the plane heading to LA with my daughter to watch the Bengals win in person!

That's great. Go get a win!

Going to order a Mellow Mushroom pizza for Sun lunch. This way we'll have leftovers for the SB. Guessing they'll be really busy starting in the afternoon.

Hope my plan works.

So pulling for the Bengals to win but a close game with no major injuries. I just like the underdog stories though the Rams have one too with Stafford. With the Rams being a divisional rival to my beloved Cards, its pretty easy to root against them here.



If the Rams do win, I hope Beckham Jr does not get MVP. It still rankles me how he and his dad manuevered their way out of Cleveland and it would not surprise me if he did not play 100% either just to help get out of there. I don't want to see that rewarded with a MVP for the Super Bowl

Rams are -4.

I hear what QS is saying but the Rams were still the 4 seed in the NFC and had to mount a pretty impressive comeback to beat the 49ers at home. So they may have the talent advantage in some respects, but they're far from some juggernaut.

I expect the Rams to come out in the lead early, but if it's close at halftime, the Bengals will win.

Nice! Wish I could go, but glad we've got a lot of representation out there. Bring it home

I expect the Bengals to attack the crap out of the soft middle of the Rams zone

Just find where Troy Reeder was supposed to be covering, someone is open.

I suspect the Bengals' chances will evaporate somewhere around the 12th time Aaron Donald sacks Joe Burrow.

Well, not 12 sacks, but still....