Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals will be the ‘Battle of Ohio.’
Well, sort of.
The Rams' roots are in Cleveland. The Bengals play in Ohio and have deep ties with a Buckeye State coaching icon.
The Rams were founded in 1936 as the Cleveland Rams of the American Football League. After just one season, the Rams moved to the National Football League and played seven seasons at League Park, Shaw Stadium and Municipal Stadium.
In 1945, led by quarterback Bob Waterfield and receiver Jim Benton, the team posted a 9-1 record and won the Western Conference.
The Rams would host the Washington Redskins in the NFL Championship at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Washington had won the Eastern Conference with an 8-2 record.
The game was played on Dec. 16, 1945 at Cleveland Stadium on the shore of Lake Erie.
The Rams were a four-point favorite in a matchup featuring two future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Waterfield was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player for the Rams in his rookie season and was looked at as the league’s new “gunslinger.” His counterpart was Slingin’ Sammy Baugh of Washington, who was the wily old veteran and probably the NFL’s biggest star in 1945.The media played up the quarterback battle in the week leading up to the 1945 championship game in anticipation of an aerial shootout.
However, on the morning of the game, the temperature was -8 degrees, which made it the coldest championship game at the time.In the days leading up to the game, 9,000 bales of hay were spread over the field (along with a tarp) to keep the field from freezing. It didn’t help much. At game time, the temperature had warmed to only 2 degrees. As the game progressed, the temperature never got above 6 degrees and a howling wind off the lake made the wind chill even colder.
All of the straw was eventually used to keep the players warm on the sideline during the game. Although Cleveland Municipal Stadium could hold nearly 80,000 people, the sub-zero temperatures resulted in an official attendance of only 32,178. There was no television, only radio coverage, along with 50 sportswriters from around the country.
The first points of the game came in an unusual fashion. Washington’s Baugh threw a pass from the end zone that bounced off of the uprights of the goal posts, which at that time were at the front of the end zone.
This resulted in a safety and a 2-0 Rams lead. It also resulted in a rules change that made that kind of pass ruled incomplete. The rule now is moot since the goal posts have been moved back to the rear of the end zones.
Here’s the play:
Each team scored a touchdown in the second quarter.
For the Redskins, Steve Bagarus caught a 38-yard pass from Frank Filchock, who was sent in to replace Baugh at QB by coach Dudley DeGroot. Joe Aguirre kicked the extra point. For the Rams, Jim Benton took in a 37-yard scoring pass from Waterfield and Waterfield also kicked the PAT and Cleveland led 9-7 at halftime.
The Rams pushed their lead to 15-7 in the third quarter when Waterfield threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Jim Gillette. The PAT was not good. Washington scored before the end of the third on an eight-yard TD pass from Filchock to Bob Seymour. Aguirre again added the extra point.
Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
After winning the title, Rams owner Dan Reeves elected to move the team to the sunny and booming market of Los Angeles because of financial troubles and lackluster attendance, not to mention looming competition from the upstart Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football Conference.
The league initially denied Reeves’ request, but the Rams’ owner threatened to end his relationship with the NFL. In reality, Reeves had little choice but to move the franchise after Paul Brown and the Browns had won the Municipal Stadium lease.
More than two decades later, Brown would years later would be a big part of Cincinnati Bengals history. We’ll get to that.
Beyond football
The move to Los Angeles produced a change that went beyond the football field as the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission played a major role in breaking the NFL’s color barrier.
In 1946, columnist Halley Harding, who played in baseball’s Negro Leagues, for the Harlem Globetrotters, and for Fritz Pollard, the first Black head coach in the NFL, became a crusading journalist and civil rights activist. He wrote for the now-defunct Los Angeles Tribune and represented a group of Black newspapers when he implored the commissioners to stipulate that the Rams integrate the team if they wanted to use the taxpayer-supported venue.
The Coliseum Commission granted the Rams a three-year lease. While it was not a part of the lease agreement, it was implied that the team had to sign Black players. Two months later, Kenny Washington and Woodrow “Woody” Strode were signed, and they made their NFL debut that fall.
Washington and Strode had been teammates with Jackie Robinson on the 1939 UCLA football team.
Robinson, of course, gained fame by becoming the first African-American in the modern era to play Major League Baseball. Washington and Strode have been far less celebrated as the first two Black players to reintegrate the NFL.
Linked to Paul Brown
Both Super Bowl teams are linked to Paul Brown.
The Rams are linked in a bit of a roundabout way in that Brown’s presence in Cleveland led to the Rams relocating to the west coast.
He was/is the father of current Bengals’ owner, Mike Brown, now 86 years old. Also, Paul Brown was the first Bengals coach.
Brown started his coaching career as a high school coach at Severn School Prep in Maryland before moving to Massillon, Ohio.
During his nine years at Massillon, Brown invented the playbook and originated the practice of sending in plays to his quarterback from the sideline using hand signals.
His record at Massillon was 80–8–2, including a 35-game winning streak. Brown’s overall high school record was 92-10-3.
Brown became the coach at Ohio State in 1941 and would be classified 1-A in 1944 and commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy serving at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station and he coached the football team there, playing against college teams.
His last game at Great Lakes Naval was a 39-7 win over Notre Dame, putting his overall college coaching record at 33-13-3.
It was expected that Brown would return to Ohio State after the war but instead the coach joined the Cleveland franchise of the new All American Football Conference.
That franchise was originally set to be called the Panthers, but after Brown’s hiring there was a clamor to name the team after its coach in recognition of his great success at Ohio State, where he won a national championship.
Cleveland won the league championship each year of the AAFC.
The Browns, Baltimore Colts and San Francisco 49ers of the AAFC were absorbed into the NFL for the start of the 1950 season.
Cleveland’s success would continue in the new league, starting with a 35-10 win over the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia in its opener.
The Browns would go 10-2 during the regular season with both losses coming to the New York Giants. Cleveland would avenge that loss to the Giants in the Division Playoffs in the only game to end with an 8-3 score in pro football history.
In the championship game the Browns would welcome the Rams back to Cleveland four years after they left the city for the west coast.
The Rams led 28-20 after three quarters but the Browns scored the game’s final 10 points. Otto Graham threw a 14-yard TD pass to Rex Bumgardner and Lou Groza kicked a 16-yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining.
Los Angeles did have one more opportunity, but it would require completing a ‘Hail Mary’ pass.
Future Minnesota Vikings coach Norm Van Brocklin was not playing that day because of broken ribs sustained the week previous in a Divisional Playoff win over Chicago, but Rams coach Joe Stydahar asked The Dutchman: ‘ Can you throw deep?’
Van Brocklin said maybe one or two times so into the game he went.
He took the snap and gave his receivers time to get downfield before letting fly. The ball traveled 55 yards in the direction of Army Heisman Trophy winner Glenn “Mr. Outside” Davis along the sideline. However, Warren Lahr caught the ball over his shoulder at the 13 for the interception. Davis wrapped his arms around Lahr and tried to pry the ball loose as he pushed all the way into the end zone and out of bounds.
The officials huddled to make the call as everyone stood motionless on the field.
If Davis gained joint possession, the Rams could try a short field goal to win. Or would the officials rule it an interception and a safety, giving the Rams a tie to force overtime?
Eventually the officials ruled it was an interception in the field of play making it Cleveland’s ball and the Browns ran out the clock.
Brown would coach Cleveland through 1962. His Browns were 47-4-3 in the AAFC and 111-44-5 in the NFL.
He’d become involved in a dispute with then-Browns’ co-owner, Art Modell. That caused his departure from the team. Modell eventually moved the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore where they became the Ravens. The second edition of the Cleveland Browns began play as an expansion team in 1999.
Brown would become the first coach of the expansion Cincinnati Bengals of the AFL in 1968 and they went 7-20-1 in two seasons before the AFL merged with the NFL. In six seasons in the NFL under Brown the Bengals were 48-36 and made the playoffs three times but were not able to win a postseason game.
His total professional record was 213-104-9.
Fun facts
We’ll start with three visual fun facts.
While fully recognizing this has the potential to be upsetting to one of my favorite followers (who generally is a fun fact fan) we’ll start with this one:
I trust this one will be less upsetting.
Donny Anderson of the Packers is the only player to kick a punt….and return a punt….in the same Super Bowl. He did it in Super Bowl I in Los Angeles vs. Kansas City. He also rushed for a touchdown in Super Bowl II vs. Oakland in Miami.
Bringing her back
This final visual fun fact should put me back in the good graces of the loyal subscriber mentioned a few paragraphs back.
Los Angeles wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.'s mother is Heather Van Norman, who was an outstanding track and field athlete at Windom High School.
This is rewritten from earlier this season when the Vikings played Cleveland. Said loyal subscriber is a loyal follower of the Browns and also a former standout student-athlete from southwest Minnesota.
Van Norman finished third in both the 200- and 400-meter events at the state Class A track and field meet. She never lost another race, winning her last 147 events.
Van Norman was the Eagles' only state qualifier as a junior in 1987. She scored 30 points and Windom won the state team title.
In her senior year in 1988, Windom's two-mile relay team placed third. Van Norman scored the rest of the points as the Eagles repeated as team champions.
Van Norman started her collegiate career at the University of Minnesota before transferring to LSU, where she was a six-time all-American and three-time NCAA champion.
She was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech and Rice and was also head track and field coach at Tulane and Nicholls State.
Van Norman has 101k followers on Instagram @heathervannorman
Beckham spent the first six games this season with the Browns. Cleveland released him amid a diminished role in its offense, as well as controversy surrounding rumored discontent with QB Baker Mayfield.
During the regular season with the Rams, he played in eight games, starting seven. He caught 27 passes for 305 yards (11.3 average) and five touchdowns.
In three postseason games he has 19 receptions for 236 yards (12.4 per catch) and one TD.
More fun facts
The Bengals are in the Super Bowl for the third time. Their first two -- in 1981 and 1988 -- were both against the 49ers. They lost to San Francisco both times, 26-21 in Super Bowl XVI in Pontiac, Mich. and 20-16 in Super Bowl XXIII in Miami.
The Rams are making their fifth Super Bowl appearance, their third as the Los Angeles Rams. They made two trips as the St. Louis Rams.
Los Angeles last appeared in the big game in 2018, losing to Patriots 13-3 in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl of all time.
This is the first time in Super Bowl history that both teams entered the playoffs as a No. 4 seed.
Both starting quarterbacks, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Los Angeles’ Matthew Stafford, are former No. 1 overall draft picks.
Burrow is in his second NFL season. At 25, he's looking to become one of the youngest QBs to ever win a Super Bowl, behind just Ben Roethlisberger (23), Patrick Mahomes (24) and Tom Brady (24).
Stafford appeared in only three playoff games during his 12 years with Detroit. He went 0-3 in those games. In his first year with the Rams, he's 3-0 in the postseason.
The Bengals and Rams both finished 2021 with top-10 passing offenses. L.A. was fifth, and Cincinnati seventh.
Both teams had bottom-half defenses, with the Rams 17th and Bengals 18th.
The Rams will play the Super Bowl on their own turf at SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, Calif.
By playing at SoFi Stadium, the Rams are trying to become the second straight team to win it all in their own stadium. Before the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in Tampa to end the 2020 season, no team had ever done it.
The Bengals are the official home team for Super Bowl LVI due to the NFL alternating the designation between conferences each year. That means they'll use the Rams' usual home locker room during the game.
As the ‘visiting’ Cincy had its choice of uniform color. The Bengals opted to wear black jerseys, white pants with white stripes and orange socks. Los Angeles will wear white jerseys, gold pants and blue socks.
Cincinnati also will get to call the coin flip at the start of the game, and overtime if necessary.
Country singer Mickey Guyton will perform the national anthem, while R&B singer Jhené Aiko will perform "America the Beautiful" and gospel duo Mary Mary will sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" prior to the game.
The halftime show will feature a collective of longtime hip-hop artists: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar.
NBC will broadcast the game, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET at Feb. 13. Streaming is also available on fuboTV. The broadcast team for the game includes Al Michaels (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (color commentary), Michele Tafoya and Kathryn Tappen (sideline reporters) and Terry McAulay (rules analyst).
Super Bowl scores
I: Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10
II: Green Bay 33, Oakland 14
III: New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7
IV: Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7
V: Baltimore 16, Dallas 13
VI: Dallas 24, Miami 3
VII: Miami 14, Washington 7
VIII: Miami 24, Minnesota 7
IX: Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6
X: Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17
XI: Oakland 32, Minnesota 14
XII: Dallas 27, Denver 10
XIII: Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31
XIV: Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles Rams 19
XV: Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10
XVI: San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21
XVII: Washington 27, Miami 17
XVIII: Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington 9
XIX: San Francisco 38, Miami 16
XX: Chicago 46, New England 10
XXI: New York Giants 39, Denver 20
XXII: Washington 42, Denver 10
XXIII: San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16
XXIV: San Francisco 55, Denver 10
XXV: New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19
XXVI: Washington 37, Buffalo 24
XXVII: Dallas 52, Buffalo 17
XXVIII: Dallas 30, Buffalo 13
XXIX: San Francisco 49, San Diego 26
XXX: Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17
XXXI: Green Bay 35, New England 21
XXXII: Denver 31, Green Bay 24
XXXIII: Denver 34, Atlanta 19
XXXIV: St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16
XXXV: Baltimore 34, New York Giants 7
XXXVI: New England 20, St. Louis 17
XXXVII: Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21
XXXVIII: New England 32, Carolina 29
XXXIX: New England 24, Philadelphia 21
XL: Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10
XLI: Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17
XLII: New York Giants 17, New England 14
XLIII: Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23
XLIV: New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17
XLV: Green Bay 31, Pittsburgh 25
XLVI: New York Giants 21, New England 17
XLVII: Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31
XLVIII: Seattle 43, Denver 8
XLIX: New England 28, Seattle 24
50: Denver 24, Carolina 10
LI: New England 34, Atlanta 28
LII: Philadelphia 41, New England 33
LIII: New England 13, Los Angeles Rams 3
LIV: Kansas City 31, San Francisco 20
LV: Tampa Bay 31, Kansas City 9