Bengals open as road favorites against Cardinals

The Cincinnati Bengals don’t get time to sit back and lick their wounds for long. They have to hit the road again and meet the Arizona Cardinals in the desert. Both of these teams are looking for their second win on the season, but how do the odds makers see this game playing out?

The Bengals open as four-point favorites on the road against the Cardinals, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, though it's already down to three points. The over/under is set at 45 points.

It’s hard to believe that Cincinnati is once again a road favorite after only winning one game on the season, especially since Arizona has been a surprisingly competitive team so far this year without quarterback Kyler Murray due to an ACL injury from last year. They’ve been starting Josh Dobbs, who they acquired just before the start of the season.

The Cardinals offense has scored at least 16 points in every game so far, which doesn’t sound super impressive on its own. However, the Bengals have had two offensive performances where they’ve scored only three points and barely even crossed midfield. In the game they won, they scored 19 points, which was fueled by four field goals and the defense playing out of its mind.

Still, we all know what the Bengals are theoretically capable of. It’s we have yet to really see it on display this season. The offense has clearly been dialed back due to Joe Burrow’s calf injury, but there has been a lack of creativity to go along with that. The defense also has looked like it is a shell of itself most of the time (outside of the game against the Los Angeles Rams).

At some point, we have to stop looking at what this team can do on paper and look at them for what they are doing on the field. This may be that tipping point if Cincinnati comes out with another dud in Arizona.