Welcome to year two of the Joe Burrow era with this Cincinnati Bengals team, and the hope is some major leaps are made in what equates to his sophomore season at the professional level. It couldn’t get much worse as Burrow was lost for the season in Week 11 after he shredded his ACL and MCL in addition to damaging his PCL and meniscus.
Cincinnati limped to the finish line (no pun intended) and finished with a 4-11-1 record.
Now, year two of the QB1’s era also doubles as our first chapter of the Joe Burrow/Ja’Marr Chase story. Chase was brought here for one reason, and this will tick some of you off, but it’s true. He’s expected to be the ‘Marvin Harrison’ to Burrow’s ‘Peyton Manning’ or, yes we took it there, the ‘Jerry Rice’ to Burrow’s ‘Joe Montana’.
Hey, no pressure right?
The first test for both of these guys and the rest of the Bengals roster comes in Week 1 of the regular season as Cincy welcomes the Minnesota Vikings to Paul Brown Stadium aka The Jungle. Both teams will obviously be looking for Week 1 victories as they look to erase the memories of last season. Only one franchise will accomplish that goal. With that being said, let’s look at what Vegas has to say about this one.
Bengals vs Minnesota Odds Week 1
The Week 1 betting odds on WynnBET indicate that the Bengals are three-point underdogs at home with odds of +100. They have +145 moneyline odds while Minnesota is the favorite at -170. The total for this one is set at an over/under of 48 points.
Bengals vs Minnesota Prediction Week 1
Cincinnati is a home underdog, but the key statement in that is they’re at home and playing in the friendly confines of Paul Brown Stadium. This place isn’t nicknamed The Jungle for no reason. Expect the home crowd to play a factor.
A three-point margin means the experts believe the Vikes will win, but they aren’t certain or willing to go overboard with the point spread. That can’t be ignored. If the Bengals can hold onto the ball, something that was an issue in the preseason but also something we believe that they can do, they’ll ride the hometown emotion to an upset in this one.
Yes, you read that correctly. We’re taking the over. We disagree with the expected result. The Bengals pull the upset in this one thanks to the running game and a late field goal that puts this one away. The final score ends up somewhere in the 27-23 range.