Bengals have already been declared massive underdogs for their next game before playing the Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’
Betting markets are not expecting a close game for the Bengals in Week 5.
Before their “Monday Night Football” game against the Denver Broncos closes out NFL Week 4, the Cincinnati Bengals, still 2-1 as of this posting have already learned they’re being counted out of their next game.
ESPN BET’s NFL odds have the Bengals as a 9.5-point underdog for their upcoming home game against the 3-1 Detroit Lions. It’s currently tied for the largest spread of Week 5 as the 2-2 Arizona Cardinals are also 9.5 favorites over the 0-4 Tennessee Titans.
The difference lies in the Cardinals being the home team in that matchup. The Lions will walk into Cincinnati as the heavy favorite, and it’s a position the Bengals haven’t been in very often in the Joe Burrow era.
Bengals are about to a home underdog like they haven’t been in years
9.5 points is an even larger spread than the one set for Monday night’s game in Denver, and Cincy being given that to cover in Paycor Stadium is even more astounding.
The last time the Bengals were underdogs of at least 9.5 points was in the 2020 regular season finale when the Baltimore Ravens came to the Queen City. Burrow was out with his season-ending knee injury, and Cincinnati’s roster was in total disarray at the time. The spread was 13.5 points and Baltimore easily covered with a 38-3 victory.
Just two weeks prior to that game, the Bengals were 14.5-point underdogs against the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. It was the night Vonn Bell put the hit stick on JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ryan Finley’s legs carried Cincinnati to a 27-17 upset victory on MNF.
Both of those games were over four years ago; becoming a club expected to make the playoffs and having Burrow healthy has changed things. Now the franchise QB is on the mend again and there’s little hope in Jake Browning to keep them afloat after last week’s blowout loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Bengals could make a statement in Monday night’s game and tilt Sunday’s spread back towards their favor. For now, they’re viewed as a squad with minimal hope to compete against one of the league’s best teams.
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