Bengals at Steelers: Odds, expert picks and predictions

Expectations for the Bengals have gone up slightly since last week. They were big underdogs to the Bills and the experts wouldn’t touch them with a 20 foot pole. After taking Buffalo to the end of the game, Cincinnati has turned a few heads as they head into Pittsburgh for Monday Night Football.

Odds

The Bengals are currently 3.5-point underdogs for their Monday night matchup against the Steelers, according to Bovada. This is a nice turnaround after being a six-point underdog heading into Buffalo last week. The Bengals also opened up as a 8.5-point underdog to the Steelers, but Cincinnati may have been a popular bet after covering last week.

Of course the Steelers aren’t on the same level as the Bills. They have Mason Rudolph at quarterbacks going into his second start in the NFL. Pittsburgh also doesn’t have the same level of defense as the Bills last week, which helped shutdown Cincinnati’s offense for most of last weeks game.

Betting Trends

• Cincinnati are 6-1 against the spread in their last seven games.
• Cincinnati are 0-5 straight up in their last five games.
• Cincinnati are 5-13-1 against the spread in their last 19 games against Pittsburgh.
• Cincinnati are 0-8 straight up in their last eight games against Pittsburgh.
• Cincinnati are 6-0 against the spread in their last six games on the road.
• Cincinnati are 1-5 straight up in their last six games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh.
• Cincinnati are 5-0 against the spread in their last five games against an opponent in the AFC conference.
• Cincinnati are 0-5 straight up in their last five games against an opponent in the AFC North division.
• The total has gone over in six of Cincinnati’s last eight games played in September.
• Pittsburgh are 3-6 against the spread in their last nine games.
• The total has gone under in five of Pittsburgh’s last seven games.
• Pittsburgh are 1-4 straight up in their last five games.
• The total has gone under in five of Pittsburgh’s last seven games against Cincinnati.
• The total has gone over in 12 of Pittsburgh’s last 16 games at home.
• Pittsburgh are 5-1 straight up in their last six games when playing at home against Cincinnati.
• The total has gone under in seven of Pittsburgh’s last eight games against an opponent in the AFC conference.
• Pittsburgh are 14-1-1 straight up in their last 16 games against an opponent in the AFC North division.
• Pittsburgh are 2-6 against the spread in their last eight games played in September.
• Pittsburgh are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games played on a Monday.

Expert Predictions

• Fox Sports predicts a 23.1 to 24.6 Bengals loss
• Two of ESPN’s experts are taking the Bengals in the upset
• CBS Sports has six of their eight experts going with the Steelers
• Three of SB Nations’ eight experts are going with Cincinnati (they also got the Ramsey the good dog pick in addition)
• NFL Pick Watch, which takes into account picks from around the web, has the Bengals receiving 21 percent of the picks.

It is good to see there is any confidence in the Bengals compared to last week where Cincinnati didn’t receive any picks against the Bills. Clearly the Bengals efforts against the Bills to take it down the wire helps, and the fact the Steelers aren’t as formidable as recent years also helps.

A win on Monday night would do wonders for the Bengals’ expectations from the experts going forward. Maybe they would actually be able to pull in half the picks.