Super Bowl 2022: Examining the unique offensive dynamic between the Rams and Bengals ahead of Sunday's matchup

Tendency-wise, Los Angeles and Cincinnati couldn't be more similar

This Super Bowl is unique in that it features a head coach who's a branch off his counterpart's coaching tree. It's the first time we've had this dynamic with the Lombardi Trophy on the line since Super Bowl XLI in February 2007 between the Colts and Bears. 

In that matchup, Chicago head coach Lovie Smith spent five years as then-Indianapolis head coach Tony Dungy's linebackers coach when Dungy was the head coach with the Buccaneers.

When the Bengals hired Zac Taylor in 2019, many mocked the move as an act of desperation to simply land someone with any type of connection to Sean McVay, even if they only coached together for two seasons. Remember, too, that Taylor was only the quarterbacks coach on the Rams staff in 2018. 

Taylor, and, that same offseason, Matt LaFleur being hired by the Packers sparked jokes and memes about even tangential relationships with McVay possessing the power to earn one a head-coaching gig. Ironically, both of those hires have worked out.

And there's another unique element to Super Bowl LVI that's directly related to the coaching tree dynamic: both teams' offenses are nearly identical to each other. In fact, I'll go as far as to say we probably have never had a Super Bowl with each club's offensive philosophies more closer aligned. 

That's fascinating and refreshing. In (likely) every other Super Bowl, the chess match stemming from unfamiliarity between the participants has been the storyline. This Super Bowl will feature a completely different type of chess match, one in which each defense will have a keen sense of the opposition's offensive tendencies because of all the time spent practicing against their own team's offense.

Super Bowl LVI features the top two teams in "11 personnel," which means a formation of three receivers, one tight end and one running back. The Rams have used "11" on 85% of their snaps to date. Exceptionally high. The Bengals come in at a hefty 77%. And that's just the start. 

Both McVay and Taylor have called the same percentage of run and pass plays this season -- 59% pass, 41% run. On first downs? Almost exactly the same. Los Angeles enters with a 49% pass rate on first down, Cincinnati's at 47%.

And the two young, offensive-minded coaches have handled their quarterbacks with the same type of care. Joe Burrow has attempted a pass over 20 yards on 12.2% of this throws. Stafford has a deep-ball rate of 11.6%. The latter's screen-pass rate is 10.9%. Burrow's is 8.9% 

The quarterback's usage of play-action isn't hyper-similar, but there's not enough of a disparity to label it as a key difference between the two teams. Stafford has utilized a play-action fake on 23.7% of his pass attempts while Burrow's rate is 19.8%. 

In terms of offensive tendencies, the Bengals and Rams are twins. And that, of course, stems from Taylor's two years soaking up knowledge from McVay with the Rams before getting the Bengals head coaching gig. The coaches' deep knowledge of each other and how they like to attack a defense gives Super Bowl LVI a genuinely unique flair.