Rams defeat Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl 56, Cooper Kupp wins MVP

The fifty-sixth Super Bowl was yet another close one in a post-season full of extremely close finishes. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20.

The Rams lost a huge piece of their offense early on, as their in-season acquisition Odell Beckham Jr. injured his knee in the second quarter and never returned to the game. Beckham had made his mark on the game, as he scored the first touchdown with a 17-yard catch, but after he let, the Rams offense looked out of sorts.

Thankfully for the Rams, their defensive line, led by Aaron Donald, sacked Joe Burrow seven times. And the biggest play came on 4th and 1 with 48 seconds left on the clock when Donald beat his man easily to get to Joe Burrow, forcing him to try to flip the ball to his running back. That turnover on downs sealed the game.

In the end, the offense, which couldn’t get going without Beckham Jr., went back to Cooper Kupp, as Matthew Stafford hit his main man, completing four passes to him, including a one-yard, game-winning touchdown with 1:25 left on the clock.

The MVP award goes to Kupp, who caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns. Even with Beckham Jr. out and Kupp getting all of the attention from the secondary, Kupp still got open. This truly was a special season for the the Eastern Washington product.