Super Bowl LVI: Mike Carlson gives us his predictions
By tomorrow night, when most people in the UK will be turning in for the night, one of sport’s global events will just be beginning: the NFL’s Super Bowl.
This year, surprise package the Cincinnati Bengals will take on the Los Angeles Rams at the latter’s £4bn new home, the SoFi stadium, for the Lombardi Trophy and the coveted Super Bowl rings.
It is by no means Super Bowl many would have predicted, so Morning Wire spoke to NFL pundit and broadcaster Mike Carlson to gauge his thoughts on the showdown and the 2021 season as a whole.
“This has been an interesting season but not really a great one,” Carlson said.
“It was good in the sense that there were no great teams in the league this year – there were a couple who were very good with flaws.
“I was expecting a 49ers vs Chiefs Super Bowl. That seemed right to me. The Chiefs threw their game away and the 49ers had their game taken away from them partly because of the referees.
“We have a Super Bowl which – luckily, I think – is a very interesting one with the storylines.”
The Bengals have never won a Super Bowl, having reached the showpiece match twice in the 1980s.
Both times they lost to the San Francisco 49ers, a team the Rams – like Arsenal, owned by Stan Kroenke – toppled in this year’s NFC Championship game.
“The Bengals wouldn’t be in the play-off had their division been healthy and Covid-19 free,” Carlson added.
“I don’t think they’d win without their belief. They’ve had to come from behind in their wins so you have to have that faith that you’re able.
“Some would say if they fall behind then they’re out but they fell to 17-3 against the Chiefs and recovered.”
Their opponents on Sunday were much more fancied to make the Super Bowl, but they weren’t everybody’s choice.
“The Rams’ head coach Sean McVay’s coaching style is more old-fashioned: West Coast offence and then set up the pass,” Carlson said.
“They weren’t my Super Bowl pick at the beginning of the season but they were my division pick in the west in what was a tough outing.
“When you’re in a good division like that you can play well and still have a mediocre record so they did well.
“We have seen once or twice the Rams struggle to block defensive lines, especially against the 49ers.”
The SoFi Stadium, located in the new Hollywood Park development, is a location suited to the glitz and celebrity of a global phenomenon such as the Super Bowl.
“When you think of Los Angeles, games were played in the Rose Bowl and the Coliseum but this new stadium is the way of the world now,” said Carlson, speaking for Betfair at the Passyunk Avenue bar in London.
“We are in the bread and circuses and so we need to have the Roman coliseum of the 21st century for our gladiators.”
For more from Mike Carlson, listen to Betfair’s NFL Betting Only Bettor Podcast and follow his tips here https://betting.betfair.com/us-sports/nfl/