The Cincinnati Bengals started this sprint to Super Bowl LVI against the Los Angeles Rams as underdogs and that’s a trend that has continued as official NFL picks have started to go live.
Over at NFL Pick Watch, 68 percent of the experts polled so far have elected to go with the Rams.
If nothing else, it’s not overly unreasonable. Oddsmakers like the Rams at home (despite technically being the “away” team, per NFL rules) in front of what should be a friendly crowd. Cincinnati, by comparison, had to use a University of Cincinnati dome to practice last week before making the cross-country trip this Tuesday.
On the field itself, the Bengals have a weakness (offensive line) where Aaron Donald and the Rams have excelled. So from a far-out view, experts taking the Rams have plenty of good reasons to do so.
It is, of course, never that simple. The Bengals have the feel-good story, seemingly unstoppable momentum and that biggest weakness didn’t matter while Joe Burrow took nine sacks and beat the Titans in the divisional round anyway.
That makes the Bengals brilliant underdogs to pick in the biggest game of the year and might explain why, when sorting the picks to against the spread, 64 percent side with the Bengals.
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