(WJW) – The final game of the longest NFL season in history is fast approaching.
Super Bowl LVI will take place on Sunday, February 13.
It’s the Cincinnati Bengals (13-7) against the Los Angeles Rams (15-5).
Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
It’s 56and Super Bowl and is the last of the year in which the game was played.
This is the first time the Bengals and Rams have met in a championship.
The Bengals will be the official home team. As the official road team, the Rams will call the toss before kickoff.
Who sings the national anthem?
Grammy-nominated Mickey Guyton will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Sher is the first black artist to receive a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album of the Year.
Jhene Aiko, who is also a Grammy nominee, will perform “America the Beautiful” just before kickoff.
Halftime show
5 hip hop giants will co-direct the halftime show. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar will perform together in a celebration of West Coast hip hop.
Dr. Dre was a supporter and collaborator of the other four artists. Dr. Dre is also inducted into the Rock and Rall Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2016 with NWA
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CLEVELAND, OHIO – OCTOBER 30: Dr. Dre speaks onstage during the 36th Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on October 30, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) -
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 26: Snoop Dogg sits down with Roxanne Shante on SiriusXM’s Rock The Bells Radio at SiriusXM Studios on October 26, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for SiriusXM) -
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CLEVELAND, OHIO – OCTOBER 30: Eminem performs onstage during the 36th Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on October 30, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) -
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 17: Mary J. Blige attends the Ghost Season 2 premiere on November 17, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for STARZ) -
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BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA – MARCH 31: Kendrick Lamar performs during day three of Lollapalooza Buenos Aires 2019 at Hipodromo de San Isidro on March 31, 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Santiago Bluguermann/Getty Images)
The 5 artists have combined 43 Grammys and 22 Billboard No. 1 albums.
You can watch the preview of the halftime show here.
About the Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals haven’t reached the Super Bowl since 1988, years before quarterback Joe Burrow was born from Ohio.
The Bengals lost to the San Francisco 49ers in both Super Bowl preview appearances in 1988 and 1981.
Prior to this season, Cincinnati hadn’t won a playoff game since 1990. (Still years before Burrow was born in 1996.)
This is Burrow’s second season in the NFL, but his first full season as a pro.
Burrow suffered a knee injury in his freshman year and missed the final 6 games of the season.
If the Bengals win, the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and 2019 Heisman winner would become one of the youngest in history to win a Super Bowl at 25, behind Ben Roethlisberger (23), Patrick Mahomes (24) and Tom Brady (24).
Before being a Bengal, Burrow was a Buckeye. Burrow spent his freshman year at Ohio State University in 2015. He spent the next 2 years as a substitute and transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU) in 2018 so that he was not named starter. He helped LSU win a national championship title in 2020.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, 38, was on the coaching staff under LA head coach Sean McVay, 36.
This makes them the youngest coaching pair in Super Bowl history.
Taylor was named head coach of the Bengals in 2019. Taylor took the league’s worst team to the Super Bowl in just 3 seasons.
LA Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are favorites to win the Super Bowl by 4 points.
The franchise started as the Cleveland Rams in 1936. From there they went to California, then to St. Louis and landed in Los Angeles in 2016.
The Rams haven’t won a Super Bowl playing in Los Angeles. Their last and only Super Bowl victory came with the St. Louis Rams in 1999.
Had Rams coach Sean McVay led the team to victory on Sunday, he would become the youngest head coach to ever win the Super Bowl.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin currently holds that title. He won Super Bowl XLIII at age 36.
McVay is originally from Ohio. He was born in Dayton in 1986.
He’s been shining all season over Matthew Stafford, who is in his first season with the Rams.
“We went for him because we thought it was a chance to get a great player of his magnitude,” McVay said of Stafford after the NFC Championship Game.
“What he did, he lifted everyone around him. He made me a better coach. He made his teammates better. He’s a great person. I think you know that from having had the chance to interact with him. If you’re not supporting this guy, something’s wrong with you.
Stafford was also a first-round pick like Burrow.
He was drafted by Detroit in 2009 and was with the Lions until they traded him to the Rams in 2021.
It took him 13 years to get to the biggest football game, compared to 2 for Burrow.
Stafford has a great cheering section. He and his college sweetheart, Kelly Stafford, have 4 little girls.
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