Superbowl 56 preview: Bengals looking to cap rapid revival with win over Rams

The Cincinnati Bengals have crashed the Super Bowl after winning a total of just six games over the previous two seasons.

They look to punctuate their stunning turnaround with the franchise's first title when they battle the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in Super Bowl LVI at Inglewood, Calif.

The Bengals are the fifth team this century to be a last-place team one season and in the Super Bowl the next.

Progress was expected in coach Zac Taylor's third season at the helm, but few were forecasting this type of jump for a Cincinnati franchise that hadn't won a playoff game since the 1990 season.

Taylor insists the magical season -- 10-7 plus three postseason wins, including rallying from 18 down to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in overtime in the AFC Championship Game -- isn't a shock.

"It's not really a surprise to us," Taylor said Wednesday. "There are going to be hard times while you build a foundation. Our guys bought into that and we knew that was going to shape us moving forward. ...

"I can't think of any other way to go through this journey than the way we did."

One more time on the practice field. pic.twitter.com/pO05XZsOse

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 12, 2022

The Bengals are appearing in the Super Bowl for the third time. They twice lost to the San Francisco 49ers, after the 1981 and 1988 seasons.

The Rams, playing in their home stadium, are making their second Super Bowl appearance in four seasons. The franchise is 1-3 in Super Bowls, with the lone victory coming after the 1999 season, when the Rams were housed in St. Louis and Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk were the stars.

Los Angeles also staged a comeback to reach this point, overcoming a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the San Francisco