by Garrison Wester
In recent years the Cincinnati Bengals have not been a threat in the NFL, but boy did that change this year. The Bengals have made it all the way to the Super Bowl and they will be facing the Los Angeles Rams this Sunday at 6:30 P.M. The Bengals have had an incredible year, but what was their journey to making it to Super Bowl LVI?
The first thing the Bengals organization did was take Joe Burrow as the first pick in the 2020 NFL draft. During his first season, he had a significant injury to his leg. Burrow tore both his ACL and MCL. Burrow was on pace to throw for the most yards as a rookie in Bengals history, so it was really devastating seeing him go down with that for many fans and coaches of the organization.
They ended up finishing the season with a record of 4-11-1 and they obviously missed the playoffs. The team was determined to have a better season next year, so they put in hard work in the offseason.
The Bengals also selected Ja’Marr Chase in the 2021 draft as the fifth overall pick. He and Joe Burrow were teammates going back to their college days at LSU, and they won a national championship there together. Throughout training camp and the preseason, Chase was struggling to catch the NFL-sized ball, but that all changed once it came to the regular season.
The Bengals had a strong regular season, and they earned a spot in the playoffs this year. They finished with a 10-7 record, and they were put into the playoffs with the number four seed. As a number four seed, no one expected them to be in the Super Bowl, but they proved many people wrong.
In the wild card round the Bengals played the Raiders and they came out on top with a 26-19 win over them. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase helped the team win that game, as Joe threw for 244 yards with two touchdowns, with 116 of those yards going to Chase.
The next game was against the Titans for the divisional round. This was a tough fought game, and the Bengals came out on top with a score of 19-16. The MVP of this game was rookie kicker, Evan McPherson, who made four out of four field goals and the game-winning field goal. Before he went out on the field to kick the winning field goal, he told Joe Burrow that it looked like they would be going to the AFC championship, and he went out onto the field and drilled the shot right between the two goalposts.
In the AFC Championship, the Bengals played the Kansas City Chiefs, and that game felt like it was a movie.
The Bengals started off slow, and there was a point when they were down 21-3 in the first half; however, they stepped up and started playing a lot better. They went into halftime down eleven and in the second half, they outscored the Chiefs 14 to 3 to force overtime.
In overtime, the first team who has the ball scores a touchdown or if the defense forces a safety or pic six, they win. The Chiefs won the coin toss and they elected to receive the kickoff. Everyone thought the Chiefs were going to drive down the field and win because of their dominant offense, but the Bengals' defense stepped up at a huge moment in the game. They forced a punt and all they needed was a field goal to win. They put together a very strong drive and Joe Mixon, the Bengals running back, was running all over the Chiefs and set up the team for an easy chip shot field goal to win the game.
McPherson drilled the field goal and from then on it was just joyous for the Bengals organization since they had punched their ticket into the Super Bowl.
Joe Burrow is the first second-year quarterback ever to take his team to the Super Bowl.
I will be cheering for the Cincinnati Bengals this coming Sunday, as they have always been seen as the underdogs, but now they have a chance to earn the whole leagues’ respect.
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