Bengals at Browns: Odds, expert picks and predictions

The Bengals are coming off their first win of the season. Andy Dalton’s return to the starting quarterback position really helped Cincinnati get up for a Jets team that was clearly looking past them. Do the oddsmakers and experts believe that a Browns team that suffered a letdown loss against the Steelers last week can avoid the same fate after taking a huge blow to their playoff hopes?

Odds

The Bengals are currently seven-point underdogs to the Browns, according to Bovada. This line being this wide is pretty surprising given the recent performances by each team. The Bengals are coming off their first win, and their defense has been playing its best football the past few weeks. Meanwhile, the Browns looked lost last week, and quarterback Baker Mayfield isn’t 100 percent coming into the game. You could make the argument that the line could’ve been worse if Cincinnati struggled again last week.

Betting trends

• The total has gone under in four of Cincinnati’s last five games.
• Cincinnati are 1-13 straight up in their last 14 games.
• Cincinnati are 8-1 against the spread in their last nine games against Cleveland.
• Cincinnati are 7-2 straight up in their last nine games against Cleveland.
• The total has gone under in five of Cincinnati’s last five games on the road.
• Cincinnati are 5-0 against the spread in their last five games when playing on the road against Cleveland.
• Cincinnati are 1-11 straight up in their last 12 games this season.
• Cincinnati are 1-9 straight up in their last 10 games against an opponent in the AFC conference.
• The total has gone under in four of Cincinnati’s last five games against an opponent in the AFC North division.
• The total has gone under in four of Cleveland’s last six games.
• Cleveland are 6-3 straight up in their last nine games at home.
• Cleveland are 0-5 against the spread in their last five games when playing at home against Cincinnati.
• The total has gone under in four of Cleveland’s last six games against an opponent in the AFC conference.
• Cleveland are 5-14-1 straight up in their last 20 games against an opponent in the AFC North division.
• The total has gone under in 15 of Cleveland’s last 20 games played in December.
• Cleveland are 6-2 against the spread in their last eight games played in week 14.

Expert picks

• Fox Sports is predicting a 31.3 to 20.6 loss for the Bengals
• Only one of ESPN’s nine experts went with Cincinnati
• CBS Sports has seven of their eight experts taking the Browns
• None of SB Nation’s experts took the Bengals
• NFL Pick Watch, which takes into account picks from across the web, has Cincinnati receiving nine percent of the picks.

The experts clearly think that the Browns are set to bounce back this week with the Bengals coming to town. Cincinnati had their best game last week, but we will have to see how much of that was fueled by the emotion of Dalton returning to the starting lineup and the team trying to avoid 0-16. Now that Cincinnati has no motivation other than to finish as strong as possible, can they play harder than a team trying to keep their miracle hopes at the playoffs alive?