Watch Super Bowl LVI from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles live on Sky Sports NFL on Sunday; the AFC's Cincinnati Bengals face the Los Angeles Rams from the NFC (kick-off, 11.30pm), with live coverage under way from 10pm
Saturday 12 February 2022 15:22, UK
Super Bowl Sunday is very nearly upon us; the wait is almost over.
Will it be the Cincinnati Bengals or the Los Angeles Rams who ultimately emerge triumphant in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in LA late on Sunday night?
Sky Sports NFL's Jeff Reinebold is here to break it all down for you, giving his five key battles that he believes will determine the outcome of the contest...
Sunday, live on Sky Sports NFL, 8pm
This is the most obvious one: the ability, or inability, of the Bengals' offensive line to handle the pass rush of the Rams.
The Rams present a unique problem. They've got three defensive linemen in A'Shawn Robinson, Greg Gaines, and the best football player - in my opinion - in the entire league in Aaron Donald. Added to that, they have Leonard Floyd and Von Miller at outside linebacker, which means they play with almost five up front bringing pressure.
That forces the Bengals in protections where all five of their offensive linemen will have one-on-one blocks that they have to make to protect Joe Burrow. And it means that they can't double-team Donald like most teams would do.
Frankly, I just don't think that Cincinnati O-line is good enough against those Rams' rushers. That said, where that does leave the Rams a little bit light is in the secondary in coverage of the Bengals' receivers.
Can the Bengals find a way schematically to protect Burrow, and give him a chance to throw the ball? He has proven he can make the throws and he has got plenty of talent he can look to get the ball to.
This is a quarterback-driven league. And any time you get into single-elimination football - even more so with the Super Bowl - the pressure and the focus on the quarterback position just grows ever-more intense.
A window of hope for the Bengals is the fact that Matthew Stafford, in every game down the stretch of the season, has put the ball in harm's way. Jaquiski Tartt should have picked him off late in the San Francisco 49ers loss in the NFC Championship game. Maybe the result would have stayed the same, but it would have been a totally different finish to the game.
Stafford has a habit of making those kinds of throws. Burrow, on the other hand, never seems flustered or bothered by any mistake - he might throw an interception, but he'll then follow it up with seven or eight great throws. That is just his nature.
The Rams have been eerily unable to close games out down the stretch - they gave up a 17-point lead to the 49ers in Week 18 of the regular season and almost lost in the divisional round to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after having led 27-3 in the second half - and a lot of that comes from the quarterback play.
That being said, the Tampa Bay game was about as clean a game as I've seen Stafford have of late. He needs to replicate that, and the rest of the offense, as if you give the Bengals enough chances, they've shown they'll make you pay.
Sean McVay and Zac Taylor are close friends. They know each other very well and have worked together before.
In coaching there's a belief, and I think it's really true, that in pressure situations you revert back to what you're most comfortable with. If that's the case, they should know how the other one thinks, their habits, how they game plan, how they scheme and what they like to do in those pressure moments.
McVay has got to prove that he can coach on this big stage, because the one previous time he had the opportunity, it did not go well for him. He was outcoached by Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots three years ago in Super Bowl LIII when the Rams scored only three points.
I saw him speaking to the media about how the team needs to appreciate this moment and not be frozen - they keep repeating the mantra 'pressure is a privilege' - well, he has got to live that himself on game day.
As for Taylor, it's uncharted territory for him. Here's a guy who had won only six games in two seasons as a head coach going into this year. He was truly on the hot seat, but what a Cinderella story!
He now, too, has to show that the Super Bowl stage is not too big for him. He has done a phenomenal job through the playoffs, and just needs to keep that consistent, low-key approach - treat it like any other game, as much as you know it's not.
The play of the defensive backfields is going to be really intriguing to watch in this game.
The Bengals' secondary has made big, game-changing plays in every single game that they've won - Jessie Bates, Eli Apple, Mike Hilton, Von Bell - they are a group of guys playing at a very high level, yet they're a little underappreciated around the league and by the media.
They are going to have their hands full, because the Rams boast a tremendous receiving corps in Cooper Kupp, the guy that should be the MVP of the league, and Odell Beckham Jr, one of the most explosive players in the game, along with Van Jefferson. But if the Bengals' secondary can continue to play well, they've got a chance.
On the other side, there's rookie sensation Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd for the Bengals, with a lot of talk about the potential match-up between Chase and Rams All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
But defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has never really been a guy to just match his best player on defense against the opposition's best on offense. We will see it a bit, but generally he will mix up his defensive looks.
Somebody on defense, on either team, is going to need to make a play. An interception at a critical point, that may be what turns the game.
Both of these teams rely on the tight end position a great deal, but both of their starters - CJ Uzomah for the Bengals and Tyler Higbee for the Rams - were injury doubts for the game and it has been confirmed that Higbee wont make it and Uzomah is 'questionable'.
Uzomah will be desperate to play - it's such a huge game! The Bengals will hope he can as the Rams' back-up, Kendall Blanton, gives them a huge advantage over Drew Sample in Cincinnati, in my opinion.
Blanton can get out there and do some of what Higbee can do and he has coped well when he has had the opportunity during the playoffs.
Your logical head says that the match-ups across the board favour the Rams, with one possible exception - and it's the most important exception on the field - at quarterback.
I'm a Stafford fan, but I just think that Burrow's uncanny, unflappable nature might give the Bengals the edge.
Watch Super Bowl LVI live on Sky Sports NFL and Main Event from 10pm on Sunday, February 13, with current players Kirk Cousins and Calais Campbell, and Hall of Famer Warren Moon among the guests joining Neil Reynolds for 90 minutes of build-up to the big game.
