Bengals vs. Steelers: Odds, expert picks and predictions

This week the winless Bengals will be facing a shell of the Steelers. Pittsburgh will be without plenty of major contributors due to injuries and suspension, which you would think could be the perfect recipe for a Cincinnati win, right? Well you would be surprised by what the oddsmakers and experts think of this week’s matchup.

Odds

The Bengals are currently seven-point underdogs, according to Bovada. This is a pretty surprising line. Of course this is the line before James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster have had their availability for Sunday’s game officially declared.

Still, Cincinnati is at home and Pittsburgh appears to be fielding a pretty wounded offense, so seven points seems extreme. The only thing that makes a little sense is the oddsmakers believe that the Steelers’ defense is good enough to really shutdown the struggling Bengals’ offense led by Ryan Finley.

Betting trends

• Cincinnati are 2-5 against the spread in their last seven games.
• Cincinnati are 0-10 straight up in their last 10 games.
• The total has gone under in six of Cincinnati’s last eight games against Pittsburgh.
• Cincinnati are 1-9 against the spread in their last 10 games at home.
• Cincinnati are 0-6 straight up in their last six games when playing at home against Pittsburgh.
• Cincinnati are 0-5 straight up in their last five games this season.
• The total has gone under in five of Cincinnati’s last seven games against an opponent in the AFC conference.
• Cincinnati are 8-4 against the spread in their last 12 games against an opponent in the AFC North division.
• The total has gone over in five of Cincinnati’s last six games played in November.
• The total has gone under in four of Pittsburgh’s last five games.
• Pittsburgh are 4-1 straight up in their last five games.
• Pittsburgh are 5-2 against the spread in their last seven games against Cincinnati.
• Pittsburgh are 9-0 straight up in their last nine games against Cincinnati.
• The total has gone under in nine of Pittsburgh’s last 10 games on the road.
• Pittsburgh are 6-0 straight up in their last six games when playing on the road against Cincinnati.
• The total has gone under in six of Pittsburgh’s last eight games this season.
• Pittsburgh are 6-3 straight up in their last nine games against an opponent in the AFC conference.
• Pittsburgh are 2-6 ATS in their last eight games played in week 12.

Expert predictions

• Fox Sports is predicting a 27.1 to 19.3 loss for the Bengals
• None of ESPN’s 10 experts took a chance on the Bengals this week
• CBS Sports had all eight experts go with the Steelers
• For the first time in three weeks an expert actually is going with the Bengals, but the rest of SB Nation’s seven experts took the Steelers
• NFL Pick Watch, which takes into account picks from across the web, has Cincinnati receiving one percent of picks

This is a strange split. You’d think this would be a game where some experts would take a chance on the Bengals desperate for a win against a very weakened Steelers’ squad. At least there was one expert who actually went with Cincinnati, but it is hard to pick a team that really hasn’t been in a position to win most of their games. It is still surprising to see the picks so one-sided. That may change as the Bengals hit a soft spot of their schedule as well, but if they don’t look competitive against this Pittsburgh team then maybe it won’t.