The picture of confidence, Bengals gunslinger Joe Burrow knew the moment wouldn’t be too big for him in Super Bowl LVI, a nailbiter that came down to the final play with Cincinnati falling just short of what would have been its first title. Looking back at it, Burrow found the atmosphere in Los Angeles lacking, equating the relative stiffness of SoFi Stadium to a corporate function.
“It felt like a dinner party and we were the entertainment,” Burrow explained to Colin Cowherd earlier this week. “You come off a road game in Kansas City, a road game in Tennessee, your first home win in the playoffs in 30-something years. Then you go to the Super Bowl and it’s more corporate.”
The Super Bowl can be quite a spectacle, with its choreographed halftime performances and exclusive parties attended by high-profile celebrities. However, the pomp and circumstance of football’s season finale can sometimes ring hollow, propping up wealthy A-listers (the average ticket price hovered around $7,000 for last year’s game) at the expense of real fans, the foul-mouthed diehards and beer-bellied face-painters that make venues like Arrowhead Stadium such a hostile environment for opposing teams.
“It took a second to get used to,” Burrow admitted. “It didn’t feel like a playoff football game. It was a weird feeling at the beginning.”
While some might construe that sentiment as pretentious, feigning disinterest in what many would consider the most-anticipated event on the sports calendar, Burrow's not wrong, observing that the Super Bowl attracts a much different and arguably less passionate crowd than the rough-and-tumble Bengals fans, beer in hand, who pour into Paycor Stadium each Sunday during football season.
Burrow, who missed most of training camp following an emergency appendectomy, will look to turn the page on a dismal Week 1, committing five turnovers (four interceptions, one lost fumble) in an overtime loss to division-rival Pittsburgh. The reigning AFC champs enter Week 2 as seven-point road favorites against the Cowboys, who will be without starting quarterback Dak Prescott (thumb).
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