Rams Are Easiest Super Bowl Bet in Recent History

The Super Bowl 56 matchup is set. The Cincinnati Bengals will take on the Los Angeles Rams for the rights to be crowned champions of the NFL.

You'll struggle to find a bigger underdog story in the NFL than the Bengals, who were listed at +7500 (bet $100 to profit $7,500) at WynnBET to win the AFC at the beginning of the season.

With that being said, I'd strongly advise you to not like the feel-good underdog story of the year cloud your judgement when it comes to betting on the game. Here are the odds via WynnBET as of this morning.

Super Bowl 56 Odds

Spread:

• Rams -4 (-110)
• Bengals +4 (-110)

Moneyline:

• Rams -190
• Bengals +155

Total:

• 49 (Over -110/Under -110)

Why the Rams Are an Easy Bet

I want to preface this by saying that no bet is ever a guarantee. Crazy things happen in sports. Just look to this year's regular season game where the Jaguars beat the Bills as 16.5-point underdogs. Never bet more than you can afford, because anything can happen in the span of a 60-minute contest.

With that being said, Rams -4 is the quickest, easiest, no-brainer bet I've placed on the Super Bowl in my life as a sports bettor. I love Joe Burrow and the underdog Bengals as much as the next person, but we can't let feel-good stories cloud our judgement.

Let's look at how these two teams matchup from a statistical perspective this season.

Rams Rankings in Key Stats:

• 2nd in Yards per Play (6.0)
• 6th in Opponent Yards per Play (5.2)
• 5th in Third Down Offense (44.94%)
• 11th in Third Down Defense (38.43%)
• 17th in Red Zone Offense (57.65%)
• 12th in Red Zone Defense (54.10%)
• 6th in QB Sacked Percentage (4.84%)
• 11th in QB Sack Percentage (6.89%)
• 29th in Yards per Carry (3.8)
• 3rd in Yards per Pass Attempt (8.2)
• 4th in Opponent Yards per Carry (3.9)
• 11th in Opponent Yards per Pass Attempt (6.4)

Bengals Rankings in Key Stats:

• 8th in yards per Play (5.8)
• 23rd in Opponent Yards per Play (5.6)
• 12th in Third Down Offense (41.13%)
• 21st in Third Down Defense (41.31%)
• 20th in Red Zone Offense (55.56%)
• 16th in Red Zone Defense (56.06%)
• 31st in QB Sacked Percentage (9.17%)
• 14th in QB Sack Percentage (6.31%)
• 26th in Yards per Carry (4.0)
• 1st in Yards per Pass Attempt (8.2)
• 24th in Opponent Yards per Carry (4.5)
• 16th in Opponent Yards per Pass Attempt (6.7)

I just listed 12 different statistics that I believe to be the 12 most important in measuring how good a football team is. The Rams have an advantage in 10 of those 12 areas. The only spots that the Bengals rank higher, are yards per carry and yards per pass attempt, but the margins are razor thin in both. (29th to 26th and first to third).

Rams Pass Rush Will Cause Havoc

People are quick to forget that the only time the Bengals faced a half-decent pass rush this postseason, they allowed nine (!!) sacks. Their other two playoff wins were against the Raiders, who rank 23rd in sack percentage, and the Chiefs, who rank 31st in sack percentage.

Now they have to face one of the top pass rushes in the NFL in the Rams. They rank 11th in sack percentage and seventh in sacks per game. Aaron Donald and Von Miller are going to make it a long day for a Bengals offensive line that gave up 3.4 sacks per game this season, the third most in the NFL.

I'm not saying don't cheer for the Bengals. I'm not saying the Bengals have no chance of winning. All I'm saying, which I've proven in this article, is that the Rams are objectively the better and more complete football team in the Super Bowl. I'll continue to follow my NFL betting strategy which has been profitable all season. Don't listen to the public narrative, listen to the numbers, and the Rams' numbers make this bet a no-brainer for me.

Iain is 159-124-1 (+31.45 units) with his NFL bets this season. You can see his detailed NFL record here.