There was a remarkable lack of penalties for the first 58 minutes of Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. The second half in particular went extremely quick, with the Bengals taking the lead on a controversial touchdown pass on the first play of the third quarter and the Rams spending the rest of the half trying to play catchup.
The refs stole the show in the final minutes of Super Bowl LVI for Rams-Bengals
The refs were front and center at the end of Super Bowl LVI.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
With Cincinnati leading by four late in the fourth quarter, the Rams went on a 15-play, 79-yard touchdown drive to take the lead. LA would hang on to win, 23-20, defeating the Bengals to win Super Bowl LVI.
While that sounds like excellent theater with the Super Bowl on the line, the gameplay itself was overshadowed by the refs calling several key penalties once LA got into the red zone.
There were three key penalties on the Rams’ go-ahead touchdown drive:
- On third and goal from the 8-yard line, Stafford missed Cooper Kupp on a throw across the middle. It should have been fourth down, but the Bengals were called for defensive holding penalty that gave LA a first down.
- On the next play, Stafford found Kupp for a four-yard touchdown pass as the wide receiver got rocked in the end zone. Then came another flag. There were penalties on both sides, with the Bengals getting called for unnecessary roughness and the Rams getting called for a hold. The TD was nullified.
- On the next play, Stafford threw a pass to Kupp again that fell incomplete, but the Bengals were called for pass interference that put the ball on the one-yard line.
Two plays later, Stafford found Kupp for the go-ahead touchdown.
People were not happy at all the penalties:
There were only six penalties called in the entire game, and three of them came in the final two minutes. One of them nullified a touchdown, and other two caused an automatic first down.
Of course, the Bengals also scored a 75-yard touchdown in the third quarter on a play where Cincinnati WR Tee Higgins very clearly grabbed the facemask for LA star Jalen Ramsey. The refs missed that call.
It isn’t unusual for the refs to decide an NFL game. It just stinks when it happens at the end of the Super Bowl.
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