It isn’t the start anyone expected for the Cincinnati Bengals. Jumping out of the gate at 0-2 and firing their offensive coordinator already.
It isn’t ideal, but the Bengals have a chance to show that under their new offensive coordinator Bill Lazor that they are capable of hanging with the better teams in the NFL again.
The Packers are also looking to prove something against the Bengals on Sunday. They are 1-1, but after an impressive performance against the Seahawks at home, they got embarrassed by the Falcons on national television. The final score ended up being 34-23, but the game was far more lopsided than that. The Falcons took a 34-10 lead into the fourth quarter.
This is a pivotal game for both teams. The Bengals can’t afford to fall even farther behind in the AFC North race that already seems out of reach. Also falling to 0-3 would mean they’d have to have an incredible turn around to even be able to sniff the playoffs. It seems over dramatic, but losing this game could lead to the Bengals moving on from Marvin Lewis and possibly Andy Dalton in the offseason.
The Packers are also trying to keep up in the NFC North race. The Lions have jumped out to a 2-0 start, and the Viking are also 1-1. They also enter the game extremely banged up.
The Packers had six starters who didn’t practice Wednesday, but most importantly for them it appears Jordy Nelson is on track to actually play. For the Bengals it doesn’t look like Tyler Eifert will play after missing two days of practice.
Odds
Odds makers view the Bengals as huge underdogs. The Packers opened as 7.5-point favorites, but that has grown to them becoming 8.5-point favorites.
As of Thursday morning the spread seems to be set at 8.5 for most places, but it has grown to a 9-point for a few betting places as well, according to OddsShark. This is all despite the fact Aaron Rodgers has never beaten the Bengals, but then again Cincinnati hasn’t done much this season to show they are worthy of putting up a close fight.
Here are some trends for both teams:
- Cincinnati is 6-12-2 against the spread in its last 20 games
- Cincinnati is 1-4 straight up in its last five games
- The total has gone under in five of Cincinnati’s last five games
- Cincinnati is 2-5-1 against the spread in its last eight games on the road
- Cincinnati is 1-6 straight up in its last seven games on the road
- The total has gone under in six of Cincinnati’s last seven games on the road
- Cincinnati is 2-5 against the spread in its last seven games when playing Green Bay
- Green Bay is 8-3 against the spread in its last 11 games
- Green Bay is 9-2 straight up in its last 11 games
- The total has gone over in eight of Green Bay’s last nine games
- Green Bay is 5-0 against the spread in its last five games at home
- Green Bay is 5-0 straight up in its last five games at home
- The total has gone over in four of Green Bay’s last six games at home
- The total has gone under in 11 of Green Bay’s last 16 games at home
- Green Bay is 5-2 against the spread in its last seven games when playing Cincinnati
Picks
- CBS Sports has five of their eight experts going with the Bengals
- Fox Sports projects a 20-27 loss for the Bengals
- SB Nation has all nine experts picking the Packers
- ESPN also has all 10 of their experts picking the Packers
- NFL Pick Watch, which takes into account all of the expert picks from across the internet, currently has the Bengals receiving zero percent of the picks at this time
It is clear the Bengals deserve to be underdogs, but maybe the change at offensive coordinator can spark something in this team, or maybe the Bengals will go out there and continue to disappoint. It is still pretty rare to see the Bengals viewed as this much of an underdog. Here is hoping for the turnaround.