Super Bowl LVI - classic, or merely good?

[notthatbluestuff]

Now that the dust has settled, the more I think about Super Bowl LVI, the more I think it'll go down as a classic. Memorable plays, huge performances by big stars, and close throughout going down to the wire. 

That's not to say I think it's the best Super Bowl of recent years - truthfully, we've been spoiled on that front. Over the last let's say 10 years, really the only bad games for me were SB48 (Seahawks/Broncos), SB53 (Patriots/Rams), and SB55 (Buccaneers/Chiefs). I even enjoyed Broncos/Panthers for unexplainable reasons. SB49, 51, 52, all of these were all-time greats. 

How do you think SB56 stacks up? 

[SkippyX]

It was a clinic in officials ignoring the rules until they did not.

The cartoonish jersey pull and the obvious facemasks were both pathetic non-calls.

It gets points for a close game at the end.

I was a great high point for the season Kupp had and the career that Donald is having but the game was just OK.

 

[FrantikRam]

Unfortunately in the modern NFL, it'll lose points for being lower scoring.

But the truth is, that stretch of 7 straight possessions ending in punts and 4 three and outs were mostly a product of dominant DL play (Bengals stuffing the run with tackles for loss, the Rams sacking Burrow multiple times).

It is unique in that very few Super Bowls have had a TD scored under two minutes left to take the lead. 

But having said all that, this kind of thing needs a story or a feeling and I think it lacked both. The Rams and Bengals season stories were awesome - but for the Super Bowl itself, the biggest story is the Rams DL dominating the Bengals OL, then Kupp/Donald/Stafford followed by officiating and the Rams losing OBJ/the offensive skill players that had to make plays.

None of those stories were all that improbable. It's not Flacco completing the best post season run ever or the Foles led Eagles dropping 41 on the Patriots.