The Cincinnati Bengals are headed to Super Bowl LVI, and not many would have bet on it.
The upstart team entered the season at some sportsbooks with 150/1 odds of winning the Super Bowl, which is set to take place Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Only the Houston Texans (300/1) and Detroit Lions (250/1) began the NFL season with worse odds.
Cincinnati rallied from a 21-3 deficit Sunday afternoon to pull off a 27-24 overtime road victory over the favored Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC Championship. The Bengals will face the Los Angeles Rams, who overcame their own double-digit deficit late in the NFC championship game to defeat NFC West rival San Francisco 20-17. The Rams had lost six straight games to the 49ers.
DraftKings Sportsbook has L.A., which will play in its home stadium, favored by 4 points in the contest. On Monday morning, its moneyline for the Bengals stood at +160, with the Rams at -190. Like many sportsbooks, it posted the over/under at 49.
Cincinnati has the worst winning percentage in the prior two years of any team to reach the Super Bowl, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
This year’s Super Bowl will feature a pair of No. 4 seeds, making it the lowest-seeded Super Bowl matchup since playoff seeding commenced with Super Bowl X. This marks the first Super Bowl without a No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed involved in the contest.
Bengals trending heavy on social media
The Bengals, led by oh-so-cool second-year quarterback Joe Burrow, entered the season with 75/1 odds to win the AFC championship. Their surprising defeat of preseason AFC title favorite Kansas City, led by All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes, ignited plenty of reaction on social media almost immediately after Bengals rookie kicker Evan McPherson nailed the game-winner from 31 yards out in overtime.
Joe Burrow's Bengals make it to the Super Bowl in his second season 💨 pic.twitter.com/NlVQ9lmXqB
— ESPN (@espn) January 30, 2022
Everybody laughed at me, pull up the receipts i called this in the preseason, all my bets hit for a reason regarding the Bengals, so happy for the fans of Cincinnati & the Brown family #WhoDey 🐅
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) January 30, 2022
It was the second time this season that the Bengals had upset the Chiefs. On Sunday, the Bengals trailed by 18 before rallying back to stun the Chiefs and the home crowd. Their comeback matched the largest in an NFL title game during the Super Bowl era. The Indianapolis Colts trailed Tom Brady and the New England Patriots by 18 also before claiming victory in the 2006 AFC championship matchup.
Bengals Super Bowl history
The Bengals are making their third trip to the Super Bowl. They’re 0-2 in the championship game after losing to San Francisco in Super Bowls XVI (1982) and XXIII (1989). Cincinnati joins the 1981 49ers and the 2003 Panthers as the only teams in NFL history to advance to the Super Bowl only two years after finishing with the NFL’s worst record.
By finishing with the worst record two years ago, the Bengals earned the No. 1 pick in the draft, which resulted in selection of Burrow, who had just come off having arguably the greatest single collegiate season of any quarterback. The Ohio State University transfer led LSU to an undefeated record and the national championship.
And with Cincinnati’s selection of Burrow, Who Dey is now the talk of the NFL.
