There may not be a more disappointing team so far than the Cincinnati Bengals, who will match their loss total from last season with their next defeat. We’ll give you the odds for their game today against the Arizona Cardinals and a best bet prediction.
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Bengals vs. Cardinals Betting Lines, Start Time, and More
All odds from DraftKings Sportsbook.
- Spread: Bengals -3
- Moneyline: Bengals (-166); Cardinals (+140)
- Over/Under: 44.5
- Game time: 4:05 p.m. ET
- Location: State Farm Stadium
- Channel: FOX
Bengals vs. Cardinals Prediction
Both the Bengals and Cardinals come into this matchup with the same 1-3 record. But while Arizona has proven to be much more competitive than initially thought, Cincinnati’s start was unexpected.
Consider that the other three teams that reached the Conference Championship games last season — Eagles, Chiefs, and 49ers — are a combined 11-1.
For Cincinnati, the story of its season so far has been offense, or lack thereof. No team is averaging fewer yards per game than the Bengals (236.0), and only the Giants (11.5) average fewer points per game (12.3).
And if you break it down simply by points produced by the offense, then Cincinnati looks even worse. The Bengals’ offense has scored just three touchdowns and only one over the last two weeks. Cincinnati is the only team in the NFL that ranks bottom five in both passing offense (166.0 ypg, 29th) and rushing offense (70.0 ypg, 31st).
Healthy or not, quarterback Joe Burrow has faced the brunt of the criticism so far. His numbers so far — 57.6% completion percentage and 69.1 passer rating — have been way off from his usual numbers.
But perhaps the biggest sign Burrow hasn’t been himself is that he is averaging less than five yards per pass attempt (4.8). That average ranks last in the NFL among 34 quarterbacks who have thrown at least 40 passes this season.
But can the Cardinals’ defense take advantage? Arizona ranks bottom 10 in the NFL in total defense (374.5 ypg allowed, 27th) and scoring defense (25.5 ppg allowed, 25th).
One positive in its favor is Arizona does have the ability to get to the quarterback, with 12 sacks this season (T-11th). Burrow, meanwhile, has been pressured on 34.2% of his dropbacks.
One of the other storylines in this game is whether or not the Cardinals could score enough points themselves to beat another playoff team from a season ago after defeating the Cowboys in Week 3. In two of their games, they scored exactly 28 points, but in the other two games, they scored exactly 16.
Quarterback Joshua Dobbs has been more than capable filling in for the injured Kyler Murray. His 70.7% completion percentage ranks in the top 10 (seventh), and he’s one of three quarterbacks who have started at least two games and has not thrown an interception (Brock Purdy and C.J. Stroud).
Dobbs has also benefited by having one of the league’s top running backs, James Conner. Conner’s 318 rushing yards are tied for third most in the NFL, and the success of the ground game has allowed Dobbs to go to play-action a lot — a league-best 32.6% of his pass attempts have been off play-action.
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This feels like a game where the wrong team is favored. Although they both are 1-3 overall, Cincinnati is winless against the spread — 0-3-1 — while Arizona is 3-1 ATS. And the Cardinals are very close to being 2-2 or even 3-1 overall, as they have blown second-half leads to the Commanders and Giants already.
I will go with the team that has looked better this season. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re also playing at home.
Best Bet: Cardinals +3 (-105 at DraftKings SportsBook)
