The Super Bowl is the most-watched broadcast in United States every year, with an average of 11 million viewers each year. This year was no exception. With the two best teams in the NFL and one of the most watched quarterbacks since Tom Brady, it’s safe to say this game was an excitement, to say the least.

    The anticipated game kicked off with two opposing players meeting at the middle of the field for the annual coin toss. The Cincinnati Bengals won the coin toss and chose to defer, putting the LA Rams on offense to start the game. After Rams rookie Ernest Jones knocked down a Bengals pass, it set up the Rams for an easy touchdown situation. New to the Rams, Odell Beckham Jr’s 17-yard return put the first points of the game on the board. The extra point was good, giving them a 7 point lead. To make an effort to get some points in the first quarter, Bengals rookie kicker Evan McPherson made a 29-yard field goal to make the score 7-3 in favor of the Rams.

      In the second quarter, Cooper Kupp of the Rams hauled in an 11-yard touchdown catch. The extra point was unsuccessful after Jonny Hekker fumbled the snap for the field goal. Bengals Joe Mixon received a pitch from star quarterback, Joe Burrow for a trick play and threw it to Tee Higgins. The extra point was good to drive the score. In the second half, Odell Beckham Jr went down with a knee injury. Beckham did not play the final two quarters. The final score of the second quarter was now 13-10, with Rams up by 3.

        The Super Bowl halftime show was the most anticipated thing about the event, besides the actual game. This years the lineup for the halftime show was Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg, with surprise performances from 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak. It started with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg rapping their classic hit “The Next Episode”, getting fans of all ages hyped. After this thrilling performance, Dr. Dre paid homage to the late Tupac Shakur, by playing his hit song “California Love” which gained loud applause from the home LA Rams fans. Catching us all by surprise, 50 Cent appeared upside down, hanging from the ceiling of the set, just like he did in the music video for “In Da Club”, Cent’s most-streamed song. R&B superstar, Mary J. Blige sang two songs, one of them being “Family Affair”, a song loved by all ’90s R&B fans.

    Kendrick Lamar brought a youthful energy to this performance which helped gather the younger audiences attention. With fast-paced music and quick dancers it brought a needed pick-me-up after Blige’s emotional performance. Rap God, Eminem, appeared on the stage and sang his single from the movie 8 Mile, “Lose Yourself”, a song almost everyone knows the lyrics to. On stage with Eminem was rapper Anderson .Paak, playing the drums. In the final song of the performance, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg gathered all the fellow performers to collaborate on a performance of “Still D.R.E”, a song by Dr. Dre with over 820 million streams on Spotify.

    After the excellent halftime show, the game continued on. In the third quarter, the odds played into the Bengal’s favor. Joe Burrow hit Tee Higgins on a 75-yard pass to give the Bengals their first lead in the game. It would get worse for the Rams, Chidobe Awuzie intercepted a pass from QB Matthew Stafford. After the Bengals scored a touchdown,  McPherson kicked the extra point to now give the Bengals a 7 point lead. Stafford suffered a foot injury at the end of the third quarter, but returned for the Rams next drive.

       Matthew Stafford linked up with Cooper Kupp for a one-yard touchdown pass with one minute and 25 seconds left, this gave the Rams a lead that the Cincinnati offense couldn’t break. The final score would be 23-20 Rams.