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The Cincinnati Bengals are slight underdogs on the road against the Tennessee Titans in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Slight, because the opening lines position them as 3.5-point underdogs, according to Tipico Sportsbook.
But it’s important to remember that home teams typically get three points from the house, so technically speaking, the Bengals are underdogs by about half a point to start the week.
And it’s not too hard to see why.
The Titans are a really good team. They rose above the scrap heap of an AFC to win 12 games while toughing it out without MVP-contending running back Derrick Henry for a key stretch. The defense is good and quarterback Ryan Tannehill manages games well.
But the Bengals are, in a word, explosive right now. Joe Burrow threw for 525 yards and 446 yards in his last two regular season games, wins over Baltimore and Kansas City, before winning a playoff game. He’s got a jaw-dropping amount of weapons around him and the defense is playing perhaps its best ball of the year.
Also worth a note — the four-win Bengals upset the Titans in 2020, 31-20. That happened in Cincinnati and the Titans are better this year, but so are the Bengals by…quite a huge margin.
That’s a long way of saying the Bengals are a strong underdog bet this week and it’s safe to presume the line will see plenty of movement in the coming days.
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