The Cincinnati Bengals know who their Wild Card opponent will be and it’ll be the Las Vegas Raiders, who punched their ticket to the playoffs by knocking off the Chargers on Sunday Night Football. The win put the Raiders as the 5-seed and sets them up for a date with the No. 4 seeded Bengals.
Both teams finished the regular season on a high note. Yes, Cincinnati fell to the Browns in Week 18 but it was hard to put too much stock into that game considering the stripes were playing a lot of their backups. Even with their backups in and most of the Browns starters playing, Cincy made a game of it, losing just 21-16.
The Raiders had a tumultuous season, as their head coach resigned midway through the season, their former first-round receiver was involved in a fatal car crash, and other players also found themselves in off-the-field trouble. Injuries were another issue and at one point, the Raiders had lost five of six games.
The #Raiders made the playoffs despite...
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 10, 2022
*Jon Gruden emails
*Henry Ruggs fatal crash
*Damon Arnette gun video
*Lost 5 out of 6
*Darren Waller injury
*Kenyan Drake injury
*Nate Hobbs DUI arrest before Week 18
Incredible job by interim HC Rich Bisaccia and his staff.
Be that as it may, here the Raiders are, sitting at 10-7 and punching their ticket to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. They did so with an interim head coach and this is not the same Raiders team Cincy faced in Week 11 when they smashed the black and silver in Vegas.
This will be a really good game in the Jungle.
Bengals vs Raiders Odds Wild Card Game
WynnBET has Cincinnati as 5.5-point favorites over the Raiders with a money line of -240 while the Raiders’ money line sits at +185. The over/under for this game is 48.5 points.
Bengals vs Raiders Prediction Wild Card Game
Fans are nervous because this organization hasn’t won a playoff game since Jan. 6, 1991, making it 31 years since this team advanced in the postseason. It’s a streak that fans are well-aware of and they can’t wait to get that proverbial playoff monkey off their backs.
I know the history doesn’t bode well for the stripes but this team isn’t like those other teams. This team has Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Mixon, Trey Hendrickson, Chidobe Awuzie, Logan Wilson, Sam Hubbard, Jessie Bates, Vonn Bell, need I go on?
The point I’m trying to make is that the 2021 Cincinnati Bengals aren’t the same playoff teams we saw fail in years past. Give me a 27-20 Bengals victory, moving them to the AFC Divisional Round for the first time since the 1990 NFL season.
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