Chiefs Bengals Odds
Posted by Steve Janus - Google+
This Sunday the Kansas City Chiefs will host the Cincinnati Bengals. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 EST at Arrowhead Stadium and will be televised locally on CBS. Oddsmakers have listed the Chiefs as a 3-point home underdog with the total set at 43.5 points.
Why Cincinnati Will Cover:
The Bengals were able to put an end to their four-game losing streak with a dominant 31-13 win at home over the New York Giants this past weekend. Even though the Bengals are just 4-5 overall, they are in pretty good shape to turn things around with three straight games against the AFC West. After visiting Kansas City on Sunday they will host the Raiders and then fly out to take on the Chargers. There’s a good chance this team will be sitting at 7-5 heading into a home game against the Cowboys in week 14. For that to be a possibility they have to take care of business this weekend.
The Chiefs certainly appear to be a good team for the Bengals to build some momentum. Kansas City comes in riding a six-game losing streak and could find it hard to bounce back from a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Steelers on Monday Night Football. There is simply nothing but pride left for Kansas City to play for and you have to wonder if they will even take this game seriously, especially with a huge game against the Broncos on tap next week.
Given that the line is only a field goal you have to like your chances with the Bengals being the more motivated team in this matchup. Kansas City is a miserable 0-4 at home this season and six of their eight losses have come by at least 10-points. The thing you have to really like about Cincinnati is the Chiefs offense hasn’t scored more than 16 points in each of their last five games. The Bengals don’t figure to have to do a whole lot offensively to beat the number in this spot.
Kansas City is just 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games when playing on Sunday following a Monday night game, 1-6 ATS vs a team with a losing record and 1-5 in their last 5 home games.
Why Kansas City Will Cover:
The Chiefs surprised a lot of people with how well they played against the Steelers on the road on Monday Night Football. Most people were banking on Kansas City losing that game in a blowout, but instead they were right there with Pittsburgh the entire way. Watching this team play you can see that they have not thrown in the towel and appear ready to fight the rest of the season regardless of their record.
The one key motivation factor that you have to take into consideration is that Kansas City has not won at Arrowhead this year. Not only is this team due for a big performance at home, they would love to get that monkey off their back before welcoming in the Broncos next week.
Believe it or not, this appears to be a very favorable matchup for Kansas City. The Chiefs offense comes into this game with the 4th ranked rushing attack in the league at 149.0 ypg. They should be able to establish the ground game against a Cincinnati defense that is 20th in the league allowing 118.3 ypg. On the other side of the ball, the Bengals rely heavily on a passing attack that ranks 10th in the NFL at 252.9 ypg. Kansas City again matches up well, as they are allowing the 8th fewest passing yards at just 214 ypg.
For whatever reason the Bengals simply have not played well when going up against another team from the AFC, especially when it comes to covering the number. Cincinnati is a miserable 1-11-1 ATS over their last 14 conference games. The Bengals are also a good team to fade against a weak opponent, as they are just 1-4-2 ATS over their last 7 games vs a team with a losing record. Kansas City on the other hand, has been an excellent team to back after playing on the road. The Chiefs are an impressive 10-2 ATS off a road loss over the last 3 seasons.
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