Chicago Bears (0-0) vs Cincinnati Bengals (0-0)
Saturday, August 17, 2024 at 1:00 pm
The betting market has overreacted to the Bears' starters playing this week with Cincinnati's staying on the sidelines. We took the Eagles + the points on Thursday knowing very well that in the first half NE was going to have the personnel advantage by playing its starters and despite the Pats leading at halftime, the Eagles found their advantage late in the game and earned the outright upset W. I could see something similar here as I think the Bears will more than likely be the better team in the first half of this game but Cincinnati's depth is still there, and I like the Bengals to battle back and find the cover. Cincinnati played as bad a football game as you could play last week vs. TB as they were outgained by about 100 yards, lost the first down advantage by 10, and the Bucs had the ball for 13 minutes more possession-wise. Despite all of that, it was only a three-point final score. I think we see a better effort for the Bengals, making that 6.5 points even more valuable. Give me the points with the Bengals.