Spectacle without spectacle
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Why the Super Bowl 2022 was sleep-inducing
opinion Los Angeles/Dusseldorf Yes, the NFL final between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals had its moments. But is that what you want to read about one of the biggest and most hyped sporting events in the world the next day?
It’s 1:30 a.m. when my eyelids start to feel heavy. And that’s not primarily because of the advanced time on Monday night, but because there’s hardly anything worth staying up for. As always, the tried-and-tested football fan slept a little early in order to be able to enjoy the hopefully spectacular Super Bowl 2022 in full. But the spectacle is not there. The NFL Finals don’t live up to the traditional hype this year.
If you haven’t fallen asleep on the couch beforehand, you’ll probably experience the best phase of the Super Bowl shortly after halftime. The underdog, the Cincinnati Bengals, is trailing 10-13 to favorites Los Angeles Rams. But then the Bengals turn the game around quarterback Joe Burrow in less than five minutes. A touchdown, an interception and a field goal with a total of ten points later, they suddenly lead 20:13. This short but intense phase seems like a promise of a better and exciting second half. But the game cannot keep this promise. It’s just a brief flicker of playful spectacle, after which the Super Bowl becomes a tired event again.
The fact that Rams pass receiver and Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp catches the decisive ball for a touchdown 85 seconds before the end and ultimately helps Los Angeles to win 23:20 doesn’t change that. Football fans who are reading along here could now think: Man, that was close – sounds very exciting. In American football, 85 seconds of game time, broken up by runs and time outs, is an eternity – and can easily be enough for a team that has made it to the Super Bowl to score again themselves. But Cincinnati doesn’t succeed. And so, instead of a dramatic final phase, the Super Bowl ends with a failed play at the center line.
Other highlights, if you are looking for them intensively, are quickly told. A Bengals player runs onto the field in flip flops to cheer with his teammates and incurs an unnecessary penalty by this odd act. Surprise guest and rapper 50 Cent hangs upside down from the ceiling during the halftime show. Rams star Odell Beckham Junior has to be substituted with a knee injury.
Otherwise, the Super Bowl 2022 fell more into the “always trying” category. There were few “Big Plays”, but a lot of black bread work. Nothing against good, solid brown bread. But for Americans and football fans around the world, their NFL finals are more like a one-meter sandwich, topped with lettuce, bacon, ham and every other imaginable meat and sausage – topped with double cheese, of course. And this Super Bowl 2022 certainly didn’t taste like that.
Incidentally, in complete contrast to the promising play-offs in recent weeks. You could say that the playoffs were the real Super Bowl that year. Because everything was in there: Close games. Many points. Crazy catch-ups. extensions. Last-minute decisions. Spectacular actions. It’s games like this that make football fans come into the office on Monday mornings exhausted and say, ‘Did you see that yesterday? No? You may have missed something there…” After the Super Bowl, the question in many places will probably be different: “And how did you manage to stay awake?”
Here is the photo gallery: The craziest fan pics from Super Bowl LVI
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