The National Football League’s postseason had been a wild one, with multiple games coming down to the last possession. All of the excitement led up to Super Bowl LVI between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams. Neither team came into the playoffs favored to win their respective conferences, with both teams being the fourth seed. The Rams and Bengals took very different routes to get to the Super Bowl. The past few years, The Rams have taken on an all-or-nothing approach, trading away every first round draft pick from the year 2017 to 2023 for high level talent. The Bengals, however, have developed their team more through the draft. In consecutive years they drafted Quarterback Joe Burrow and Wide Reciever Ja’Marr Chase from Louisiana State University, and they have continued their shared success in the NFL. Super Bowl LVI Was hosted in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, home to the Rams and Chargers. This was the Bengals first time in the Super Bowl since 1988, while the Rams made the Super Bowl in 2018, losing to the New England Patriots.

The game stayed close, with the score 13-10 Rams at the end of the first half. However things looked bleak for the Rams, as they lost star receiver Odell Beckham Jr to a torn ACL early in the game. Given how the playoffs had been going, it was no surprise that this game would come down to the wire. Down 20-16 late in the fourth quarter, Rams Quarterback Matthew Stafford led the team down the field to score a touchdown and go up 23-20 with a little less than 1 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock. Stafford led the team with the help of Receiver Cooper Kupp, who had one of the greatest receiving seasons of all time, capped off by winning the Super Bowl MVP.

Then, as the Bengals were driving down the field, the game came to a crucial fourth and one play to decide the game. And who else but Aaron Donald, the 3-time Defensive Player of the Year, made the game winning sack, to seal the second Lombardi Trophy for the city of Los Angeles