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Cincinnati Bengals: What to watch for during Super Bowl 53

By Kenn Korb

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 20: General Manager, Les Snead, head coach Sean McVay and Jared Goff #16 of the Los Angeles Rams reacts after defeating the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 20, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints with a score of 26 to 23. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 20: General Manager, Les Snead, head coach Sean McVay and Jared Goff #16 of the Los Angeles Rams reacts after defeating the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 20, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints with a score of 26 to 23. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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The Cincinnati Bengals won’t be playing in Super Bowl 53, but what can this team learn from watching the Rams and Patriots battle for the title.

Super Bowl LIII is here at last, and though it must be disappointing for anyone who doesn’t have a team in the game, there is still something to be learned from the final game of the 2018 NFL season. Some will be pretty obvious; some, not so much.

This, of course, applies to the Cincinnati Bengals, perhaps a bit more than others.

For all you Bengals fans out there, here are some things to take note of during this high-stakes matchup.

The Rams Offense, In General

Cincinnati’s next head coach is going to be Sean McVay acolyte (and current Rams’ quarterback coach) Zac Taylor. Seeing as he’s coming in directly from a wildly successful system, it would be likely that he’d bring with him a certain amount of tips and tricks no matter his prior experience.

Taylor, of course, is going to be entering the head coaching fray with about as blank an experience slate as a head coach can have. He’s only been coaching football on any level for about a decade (including his time as a graduate assistant and assistant coach under his father-in-law Mike Sherman at Texas A&M from 2008-2011), and has spent only a fraction of that (five games with the Dolphins in 2015; the 2016 NCAA season with the Cincinnati Bearcats) in a coordinator role.

With all that in mind, the situation is primed for him to try taking on as many cues, ideas, and trends from McVay as he can when he officially takes over for the Bengals — especially considering how well the young Rams head coach (remarkably as he’s even younger than Taylor) has been able to quickly turn a perennial underwhelming team into a playoff lock and dynamic contender.

Since Taylor will be a head coach, defense will matter as well in his equation, but that end of the ball is based much more in pure talent than anything. The offense, meanwhile, is where the true magic excellence of these Rams comes into play.

That’s where Taylor should have collected the most direct insights, and be what he has the best opportunity to replicate in his new home. How that offense goes about their matchup against New England should be instructive of what he’ll likely try to do with the Bengals over the next few years.

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