The Bengals have not gotten much attention from the national media this offseason. This team could sneak up on people, starting with Week 1.
The Bengals open the season with +7000 odds to win the Super Bowl, tied for 24th with the Colts and Redskins, per Odds Shark. Not great chances for the team, but not the worst in the league, the Bills hold that spot at +20000. Other future bets on this years’ Bengals team is their wins total that has been set at 6.5. The Bengals finished 7-9 last season and they have made a lot of improvements across the board on paper, so I do not see this team getting less the 7 wins. I would take the over on the win total in a heartbeat.
The odds to win the AFC north are not in the team’s favor either. The Bengals are projected to finish third with odds of +750 to win the North, behind the Steelers(-210) and the Ravens(+350). They do have better chances than the Browns though who are at +1000.
One prop bet the Bengals have high odds in is having the first head coach fired(+1200). Marvin Lewis is tied for 5th with Todd Bowles to be the first defeated by the hot seat. I do not see this one likely knowing Mike Brown, but you never know if there is a rough start to the season.
Let’s move on to Week 1 in Indianapolis. The spread opened up at -2.5 in favor of the Colts, and has not moved much since. The spread is currently sitting at -3 siding with the home team. The money line was placed at -145 for the Colts to win and +125 for the Bengals and the point total on the game is set at 48.5. When I was checking the odds for the first time, it surprised me that Vegas made the Colts the favorite in this game coming off a 4-12 season. The Colts did get Andrew Luck back, but does that does that make up for the lackluster group of weapons and a low-tier defense?
The Bengals aren’t going to get the benefit of the doubt until the can prove the doubters wrong. This game is their chance to do that, and they can show they are not one of the bottom feeders of the league. I’m taking the underdogs here in the Bengals +3 and +125 to win the opener in Indianapolis.