Bengals are hefty favorites in Week 10 vs. the Texans

The Cincinnati Bengals are on a solid four-game win streak and are fresh off of a big primetime win against the Bills. The Baltimore Ravens are on the horizon about a week and a half away, but Cincinnati hosts an upstart Houston Texans team.

DraftKings Sportsbook has the Bengals/Texans opening line as Cincinnati being a seven-point favorite (-7). Apparently, their win streak and being at home are causing the line to be that high.

Houston is a hot team right now as well, with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud impressing. He just set the NFL rookie record for passing yards in a single game with 470. The Texans are now at 4-4 and firmly in the hunt for a post in the NFL Playoffs.

Complicating matters this week is an injury to Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. He landed forcefully and awkwardly on his back on Sunday night, and he was non-committal with the media on Monday about how the rest of his week will go.

Zac Taylor said he is “day-to-day.”

Even though the line doesn’t reflect it, this has the makings of a very intriguing matchup. Stroud looks like a budding superstar, and they’ll be a big test for the Bengals.

If the Texans want to succeed, though, they’ll need to show they can run the ball (29th in team rushing yards) and are middle-of-the-pack defending the pass. Cincinnati is surprisingly last in the league in rushing yards, so that will need to improve as well.

We’ll see how the Chase injury affects the line later in the week, if at all.