The LVI (56th) Super Bowl is at 3:30 PM PST on Sunday, February 13th.
By Ben Verbrugge, Staff Reporter
Winning the last game of the season is the pinnacle of success in pro sports. This year’s final National Football League game will be hosted at SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, CA. Located twenty minutes from campus, the festivities will take over our city leading up to Sunday. Originally slated for 2021, construction delays pushed the Los Angeles hosted Super Bowl to the 2022 season. The Los Angeles Rams will now become the second team, after Tampa Bay did it last year, to compete for the championship in their hometown.
The Rams look to take home their second Super Bowl title, it has been 22 years since they have played in the big dance. All season long, the Rams have been a championship or bust team. Making trades for Mathew Stafford and Von Miller, while also signing Odell Beckham Jr. as a free agent, Los Angeles has mortgaged their future for the present.
“It would be amazing for not only Rams fans but the entire city of L.A. to host and win the Super Bowl in the same season,” said L.A. native, Kyle Zucker, a die-hard Rams fan.
The challenger will be the Cincinnati Bengals. A team with less experience and far more youth. Cincinnati enters the big dance having pulled off upsets over the top two teams in the AFC. Joe Burrow can lead the Bengals to the promised land in only his second season as their quarterback, and the team is as hot as can be at the perfect time.
Both Cincinnati and Los Angeles appear to be the team of destiny. One has continued to overcome the odds, winning as the underdog the entire playoffs. The other has sold out, giving up most of their future first round picks in order to win a championship in the brand new stadium. The game features two high powered offenses, and will likely be full of excitement.
“This year is a special year for L.A. football, we just picked up one of the most underrated quarterbacks of the past decade and in his first year he could put us over the top,” said local Rams fan, Dane Largent, a former high school football player.
If the Rams are victorious, it will resonate with the fans for the rest of their lives. On this journey to the biggest game of the year Los Angeles has defeated two divisional rivals, and the recently retired Tom Brady. Winning the Super Bowl in a team’s home stadium was something of a fairytale before Brady was the first to accomplish the feat last year.
Codee Stamis, whose Rams fandom has been passed down for generations, mentioned what meanwinning Sunday’s game could mean for many multi-generational Angelenos. “The Rams winning the Super Bowl in our hometown would really put us on the map…now all we need is the results,” he said.
It would mean a lot for the franchise and the community. Los Angeles is a fanbase that generally does not wrap their arms around a team until they are a proven commodity. The city already has historic franchises such as the Lakers, Dodgers, and Kings.
Even last week, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, there were more 49ers fans in the Rams home stadium. Competing with the Chargers, who share the same venue, the Rams have a golden opportunity to stake their claim as the number one football club in L.A. A Super Bowl trophy would only help the team solidify their fanbase.
