Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams Will Play in the 2022 Super Bowl

The 2022 Super Bowl will take place Sunday, Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California

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The 2022 Super Bowl is set.

On Feb. 13, the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will face off at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, for Super Bowl LVI.

Both teams earned their chance to play for the Vince Lombardi Trophy thanks to a pair of championship victories on Sunday afternoon. The Bengals defeated Kansas City in overtime, 27-24, while the Rams bested the San Francisco 49ers, 20-17.

In the first game of the day, the Kansas City Chiefstook on the Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City for the AFC Championship. The matchup featured a highly-anticipated meeting between two of the NFL's most exciting quarterbacks: Joe Burrow of the Bengals, and 2020 Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs entered the game aiming to make their third Super Bowl in as many years and rebound from their loss to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021's NFL championship game.

Kansas City began the first half of the 2021 season with a series of unexpected setbacks: after their first eight games, the Chiefs held a 4-4 record, which more than doubled the two losses they had in the entire 2020 regular season.

Yet the Chiefs finished the 2021 regular season on a high note, securing a 12-5 overall record. The only other defeat the Chiefs experienced in the second half of the season came against the Bengals in Week 17.

Cincinnati ended their season with a 10-7 record, good enough for first in the AFC North. Burrow is now in his second season with the team after helping to lead Louisiana State University over the Clemson Tigers in the 2020 College National Championship Game.

joe burrow
Joe Burrow. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

While it may be fair to call the historically underperforming team underdogs, Burrow would disagree.

"I'm tired of the underdog narrative," Burrow said after the Bengals beat the Tennesee Titans last weekend, according to Sports Illustrated. "We're a really really good team. We're here to make noise."

"Teams are gonna have to pay attention to us," he added. "Like I said, we're a really good team with really good players and coaches and we're coming for it all."

In Sunday's NFC Championship Game, the Rams faced the 49ers at SoFi Stadium. The last time the two teams faced off on Jan. 9, the game went into overtime, with San Franciso defeating Los Angeles, 27-24. The matchup also made headlines because of the number of 49ers fans who were in attendance (the Rams returned to Los Angeles in 2016 after relocating to St. Louis in 1995).

Los Angeles ended the season with a 12-5 record, enough to beat San Francisco's 10-7 record for first place in the NFC West.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan, 42, is the son of legendary NFL coach Mike Shanahan. Both the younger Shanahan and McVay worked under Mike's staff when he was head coach of Washington's NFL team.

Going into the NFC Championship, McVay's Rams lost six straight games to Kyle's 49ers.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is in his first year with the team, while 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is in his fifth season in San Francisco.

This year's Super Bowl is the first in Los Angeles since 1993.

SoFi stadium, which is the Rams' home stadium and opened to the public for the first time this season, was scheduled to host last year's Super Bowl, but the game was moved to Tampa Bay, Florida, due to construction delays.

Because of the move, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first team in history to both play in and host the Super Bowl, which they ultimately won.

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