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On Sunday, February 13th, Super Bowl 56 will take place from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET with the game airing on NBC. The Los Angeles Rams will technically be the visiting team even though they are in their home stadium and they will play the Cincinnati Bengals.
In late January of 2021, before the NFL season was over, news broke of a deal that would send Matthew Stafford to the Rams from the Detroit Lions where he had spent his entire career up until that point. Even though the Rams finished 10-6 last season, the addition of Stafford was expected to make them Super Bowl contenders, and here we are.
This is new territory for Stafford though. Even as the number one overall pick in the 2009 draft, he had only been to the playoffs three times prior to this season. Coming into his time with LA, Stafford held an 0-3 record in the playoffs and had never advanced past the Wild card round. He and the Lions had made the playoffs in 2012, 2015 and 2017 but they were always met with a swift exit.
Now, the Rams have won three games so far in the postseason so Stafford has tied up his playoff record at 3-3. Through six playoff games so far, Stafford has completed 67.3% of his passes for 1,813 yards and 10 touchdowns with four interceptions. This will be the first Super Bowl of his career.