National Football League

Super Bowl 2022: Who is under the most pressure?

Published Feb. 4, 2022 10:16 a.m. ET

The Super Bowl is where legacies are made and images are shaped.

Super Bowl LVI offers a unique opportunity for a young, upstart Bengals team to pave the way for a run of dominance into the future, and also provides an opportunity for a Rams team that is full of stars to cement themselves among the greatest to ever play the game.

With so much at stake, who has the most pressure heading into the big game?

Is it Rams head coach Sean McVay, who is looking for redemption following a disappointing loss in Super Bowl LII? Who is trying to complete his résumé with a championship win and undeniably place himself amongst the best coaches in the NFL?

While McVay is undoubtedly ready to reach the summit in his second attempt, Chris Broussard believes that the pressure lies solely on the shoulders of his quarterback Matthew Stafford, which he explained on Thursday's "First Things First."

"Stafford will be 34 years old next week. He's in his 13th season and his first 12 years before this season, he was viewed as a talented loser. And I mean that in terms of football –– he was a guy who couldn't win."

Stafford played his first 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions and produced some eye-popping stats. He recorded eight seasons of at least 4,000 passing yards and currently sits in 12th place on the NFL's all-time passing yardage list.

But he was 0-3 in the postseason with the Lions, with nothing of substance to show for his individual brilliance.

Now, in his first season in L.A., Stafford sits one game away from a Super Bowl title and one step closer to potentially locking in a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

While Stafford is the seasoned veteran looking to prove that he just needed a winning environment to thrive, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is looking to build on an already-legendary résumé.

In just his second season since being drafted No. 1 overall, Burrow has the chance to become the first player ever to win the Heisman Trophy, a college football national championship and the Super Bowl.

With that on his plate, and a loaded AFC field of quarterbacks to contend with in the future, Nick Wright believes Burrow has the most at stake in this Super Bowl.

"Joe Burrow has exceeded even the highest of expectations. He's been exceptional, nobody is denying that."

"It is also fair to say two of the following things: One is, they played three playoff games –– all three of them came down to the wire. So it was not exactly an easy path to get here and it won't be an easy path to get back to the playoffs. Do you think the Bengals will be favored to win their division next year? I don't know."

Both the Bengals and Rams are 60 minutes from either glory or heartbreak.

But as we've seen with the Buccaneers and Chiefs over the past two seasons, not only is it hard to get to the Super Bowl and win it, it's even harder to get back.

It's now –– or maybe never again –– for Stafford, Burrow and their units.