Bengals burnt by late Super Bowl flags

A sea of yellow flags flew onto the field in the final two minutes with the Super Bowl at stake.

After the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals were flagged only twice in the first 58 minutes, penalties on three consecutive plays helped determine a champion.

Matthew Stafford tossed a one-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp for the go-ahead score following three straight penalties on Cincinnati's defence, and the Rams held on for a 23-20 victory on Sunday.

"Crunch time, they (officials) got flag happy and it put us in a bad situation," Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton said.

"But we can't blame it on them. We just have to find ways to win."

The Bengals were the second-least penalised team in the league and had the fewest penalty yards.

But when it mattered most, the calls went against them.

"We pride ourselves on being a very disciplined team and that was a very, very undisciplined moment and it is frustrating," Bengals coach Zac Taylor said.

The barrage of flags started on third down from the eight with 1:47 left when Stafford's pass to Kupp was incomplete. However, a questionable holding call on Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson gave the Rams a first down at the four.

"They got down to the red zone on third down and Logan made a hell of a play I thought on Cooper Kupp and the penalty flag comes throwing out," Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie said.

"Obviously, I'm not a ref, I don't know what happened on that play."

On the next snap, Stafford tossed a four-yard TD pass to Kupp but the play was nullified by offsetting penalties. Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein held and Bengals safety Vonn Bell was called for unnecessary roughness for a hard hit on Kupp.

Stafford threw incomplete to Kupp in the end zone on the next play,