AFC North Odds: Bengals Woes to Continue

It’s been a rough season for Bengals fans, and it doesn’t look like its going to get better anytime soon. They are currently sitting third in the AFC North with a 3-7 record and are only one win above the Cleveland Browns.
If the season finished now, they would have the ninth pick in the 2026 NFL draft. That’s how bad it is when the Bengals are considered a Superbowl contender most years.
A lot of this has to do with the injury to star quarterback Joe Burrow who has been on injured reserve since week three now. However, there are more fundamental issues to this Bengals team than just losing their quarterback.
The defence is the worst in the league by some way. They have given up 334 points over the ten games that they have played in. That’s 34 points more than the second worst team in the league, the New York Giants.
You can score as many points as you like but if you are averaging 33.4 points a game conceded then winning is tough, no matter who the quarterback is. On top of that its not as if the Bengals defence has been hit by masses of injuries.
Rookie edge rusher, Shemar Stewart, is on injured reserve along with a couple of depth players but most of the starters are good to go and have been all season. Some people might point to poor coaching, but this has been an issue for many seasons now with different defensive coaches.
Lou Anaroumo had been the defensive coordinator at the Bengals for many years but was fired in the offseason. Now Al Golden is in his first year with the Bengals and very little has changed.
One piece of good news for the Bengals is that Joe Burrow should be back this season and there are hopes it will be in the next couple of weeks. However, can the Bengals win any games even with him?
The over under line for Bengals regular season wins is set at 5.5 currently. With seven games left and only needing three wins to go over it should feel possible, especially with Burrow coming back.
However, the schedule is not nice for them, especially over the next four weeks. They have got to take on the 9-2 New England Patriots next Sunday followed by a trip to the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving Day night.
After that they have the Buffalo Bills and then another game against the Ravens. It’s entirely possible that they will be 3-11 with three games to go.
They finish with a trip to the Miami Dolphins and two homes games to the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns. Three games that in theory they should have a chance of winning.
The problem is this is a team that gave up 39 points to the New York Jets who are 2-8. Even with Burrow back it’s hard to have any confidence in this defence.
The price of 7/5 at UK betting sites for under 5.5 regular season wins for the Bengals. Get on it now as it will only shorten over the next four weeks with all of them losses.
Then with confidence at an all time low expect them to lose one of their last three games to get us a winner.
NFL Betting Tips
Adam will be back with his expert NFL betting tips for the weekend, including a Thursday Night Football Bet Builder as the Texans host the Bills.
You can count on his insights every week throughout the regular season and beyond.

Adam is an NFL expert and will be providing weekly betting tips and regular news articles throughout the season and draft process. Also, Adam regularly features on The Franchise Tag Podcast where he is part of a weekly NFL betting show and chat show during the season and draft process.

