Super Bowl Live: Bengals faithful making themselves known

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on the Super Bowl:

The “Who Dey!” fans are making themselves known inside SoFi Stadium.

The concourses are packed with people with Bengals jerseys and they are outnumbering Rams jerseys by almost a 4-to-1 margin. The most popular jersey is that of Joe Burrow’s No. 9.

The Bengals faithful aren’t waiting for kickoff either. They’re walking around breaking into chants of “Who Dey!” inside the house of their opponent.

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Super Bowl 56 could make history at kickoff before either the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals begin the opening drives.

The temperature two hours before kickoff was 85 degrees with the chance for the gauge to go even higher by the time the ball is kicked off. That would make this the hottest Super Bowl ever, topping the record of 84 set on Jan. 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

California has been dealing with a heat wave with eight locations in the region posting record temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s earlier this week.

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Signs all around SoFi Stadium remind people to wear masks, though many people inside for Super Bowl 56 are walking around without masks even when not eating or drinking. President Joe Biden says he thinks people should be careful if not for themselves but for their children and families.

Biden was asked about people going maskless at the Super Bowl by Lester Holt in an interview shown during NBC’s pregame show. The president said he loves how people talk about personal freedom. Biden said he doesn’t consider people not wearing masks as practicing freedom. He says they put their own health and others in jeopardy.

He also encouraged people to get vaccinated and to use the tools to help prevent death and serious illness.

California will be easing mask requirements Tuesday, two days after the Super Bowl.

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The Cincinnati Bengals are the home team Sunday in the Super Bowl — technically. The home-field advantage belongs all to the Los Angeles Rams.

The NFC champions (15-5) will dress and work out of their usual locker room after spending the night before the big game in their usual hotel. The Rams’ logo is plastered all around and inside SoFi Stadium even with the banners making it clear this is the Super Bowl.

Yes, the Bengals (13-7) are represented inside the stadium with their name and “Who Dey!” mantra opposite the Rams.

This is the second straight Super Bowl where the home team has gotten to play on its own field after Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a championship a year ago in Raymond James Stadium. Before that, the NFL went 54 years without a team playing a Super Bowl in its home stadium.