Can Joe Burrow bring Cincinnati its first Super Bowl? Or will Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Co. take it in L.A.? Follow along for live coverage, betting notes and more.
5:15 p.m. ET — Welcome to Super Bowl LVI!
Thank you for joining us as the Rams face the Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The favored Rams are looking for their second Super Bowl and first since 2000, while the upstart Bengals are aiming for their first Super Bowl.
The Rams are 4.5-point favorites at with an over/under of 48.5 at SI Sportsbook.
Check the Latest Super Bowl LVI Betting Odds at SI Sportsbook
This championship game features a battle of a team with a “championship or bust” mentality versus a team that, well, most did not expect to make it this far.
The Rams are the definition of an all-in team, mortgaging plenty of draft picks and cap space to acquire the likes of Matthew Stafford, Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr.
Los Angeles lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl LII, but failed to even make the NFC championship game the next two seasons. That led to the seismic shift at quarterback with Stafford arriving to replace the maligned Jared Goff.
The Rams started hot before a midseason swoon, but they responded down the stretch to wrestle the NFC West from the Cardinals.
They then bested the Cardinals in the opening round, went to Tampa and knocked off the defending champion Buccaneers on a walk-off field goal and finally slayed the rival 49ers last weekend in the NFC championship game.
Stafford has played well this postseason, showing why the team made the move to upgrade from Goff. His passing yards prop is set at 279.5 yards and his passing touchdowns prop is 1.5, and he’s worth considering in a two-leg parlay.
The Rams would not be there, though, without the newly minted Offensive Player of the Year, wide receiver Cooper Kupp.
Kupp produced one of the greatest receiving seasons in NFL history and has followed by being virtually unstoppable this postseason. He’s tallied 20 catches for 325 yards and three touchdowns spanning the last two weeks, including his 44-yard catch that set up the game-winning field goal against the Buccaneers. He scored twice last weekend against the 49ers to help the Rams return to the Super Bowl.
Here’s a small sample of some of the available Kupp bets at SI Sportsbook
• Receiving yards: 106.5
• Receptions: 8.5
• Longest reception: 29.5
• MVP odds: +600
• Anytime/first/last touchdown odds: -175/+490/+475
Kupp is also featured among three plus-money bets to target today.
Kupp and Stafford will need big games to take down a Bengals team that is playing for a title just two seasons after having the No. 1 draft pick.
Cincinnati finished 2–14 in 2019, but a pair of LSU stars have changed the trajectory of the franchise. The Bengals selected quarterback Joe Burrow—the Comeback Player of the Year—with the first pick in 2020, and then went against conventional wisdom by opting for receiver Ja’Marr Chase last year instead of an offensive lineman.
Well, no one is questioning that pick anymore.
Chase and Burrow have a certain rapport that can rival that of Stafford and Kupp. Chase caught nine passes for 116 yards to down the Raiders in the Wild Card round before hauling in five balls for 109 yards to help defeat the top-seeded Titans.
But the Bengals still had to go to Arrowhead Stadium to take on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, the AFC’s Super Bowl representative the last two years.
And, well, things didn’t look good when they fell behind, 21–3.
But the Bengals pulled a historic comeback, with Chase contributing a receiving touchdown before Evan “Money Mac” McPherson booted yet another walk-off field goal. The Bengals are now in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989.
Both Chase and McPherson are popular betting options today.
Here’s one Chase prop to chase (pun intended) today, while McPherson is a popular pick among our experts to top his player props.
Chase’s props are set at 80.5 receiving yards and 5.5 receptions, while McPherson’s props are 7.5 total points, 1.5 field goals and 2.5 extra points.
We also have novelty props to target today, MVP betting advice and relevant betting news on which song will open the halftime show. This is expected to be a record-breaking betting day, with Drake and Mattress Mack getting in on the fun.
Yours truly loves betting the first Super Bowl score!
Here are some other bets I’ve eyeing today:
• Under 48.5 points (-110)
• Cooper Kupp MVP (+600)
• Ja’Marr Chase under 80.5 yards (-125)
• Rams field goal first scoring play (+400)
• Rams over 3.5 sacks (-118)
• First play pass (+105)
• Parlay: Kupp over 106.5 receiving yards, Kupp anytime touchdown, Van Jefferson under 31.5 receiving yards (+410)
The SI Betting team has all the betting and fantasy news you need today in one convenient location.
So, sit back, relax and let’s watch someone other than Tom Brady win a Super Bowl!
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Check the Latest Odds from SI Sportsbook
More Super Bowl Coverage:
• How Aaron Donald Became Aaron Donald
• SoFi Stadium Went Up—and Then Everything Changed
• The Long, Strange Relationship Between the Super Bowl and Hollywood
• How One Cincinnati Bar Became the Epicenter of the Bengals’ Playoff Run
