Skip to main content

NFL Odds Week 4: Red hot Bengals favorites against struggling Chiefs

The red hot Cincinnati Bengals are home favorites against the struggling Kansas City Chiefs during Week 4 of the NFL season. 

The Cincinnati Bengals have enjoyed a great start to the season, ascending to the top of the AFC North and heading into Week 4 as one of three unbeaten teams in the AFC.

And with their victory over Baltimore last week, plus Ben Roethlisberger sidelined for at least a month for the Steelers, the Bengals have every opportunity to take a stranglehold of their division.

With that being said, Cincinnati is coming off a huge victory, and will have to avoid a letdown against the 1-2 Kansas City Chiefs this weekend as 4-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.

Injuries, close losses make the AFC North clearly the Bengals' to lose

Although the final score doesn’t necessarily show it, the Chiefs were embarrassed by the Packers on Monday Night Football. As is often the case, results of primetime games lead to major overreactions by the betting public, and it’s no shock to see almost three quarters of early wagers on the NFL betting lines being placed on the Bengals.

If Kansas City stands any chance of pulling out the victory, they’ll have to improve their third down efficiency. The Chiefs have converted just five of their 30 third down opportunities this season, and their 17% conversion rate ranks dead last in the league. The Bengals defense is stingy, having allowed a measly 36% third down conversion rate thus far, so the Chiefs don’t appear to have the greatest matchup here.

A key matchup will be the Chiefs pass rush against the Bengals offensive line. Andy Dalton has been sacked just twice this season, but the Cincinnati offensive line hasn’t really been tested, facing three teams with a combined 13 sacks.

Kansas City already has nine sacks, and their pass coverage will improve with the return of cornerback Sean Smith, who has completed serving his three-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.  

These two teams have played UNDER the posted total in eight of their last nine meetings according to the OddsShark NFL Database. Sunday's total has been set at 44 points at the sportsbooks.