Bengals vs Steelers Prediction & NFL Odds for Week 1
Check out our free Steelers vs Bengals prediction for the NFL week 1 game in Cincinnati. See who USA Wager likes to win and cover the spread in this football game. And, get our insight into the best over-under point total bet.
Bengals vs Steelers Prediction & NFL Odds for Week 1
On Sunday, September 11th, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to take on the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. This AFC North showdown has a kickoff time set for 1:00 PM ET, and will be televised on CBS.
The odds for this game opened with Cincinnati as the -6.0 point road favorite. The Bengals opened with a payout of -250 on the moneyline compared to the current odds of -274. On the other side, the Steelers opened by getting 200 on the moneyline. Their current moneyline odds sit at 219.
Heading into Sunday’s game, Cincinnati is the odds on favorite to come away with the win. Will they be able to take care of business at home? Or, does Pittsburgh have what it takes to make things interesting? Keep reading to USA Wager’s Steelers vs Bengals prediction.
- Spread: PIT 6.5 | CIN -6.5
- MoneyLine: PIT 219 | CIN -274
- Total: 44.5
Steelers vs Bengals Prediction: Spread
Last season, the Steelers were a below .500 team against the spread, finishing just 8-9-0. Pittsburgh went into 6 games as the betting favorite.
Like Pittsburgh’s overall record vs the spread, their road ATS mark of 4-4-0 was near the league average. The Pittsburgh Steelers went on to lose the game by -26.0 points.
Last season, the Cincinnati Bengals covered the spread in over half of their games, putting together an ATS record of 10-7-0. The team’s performance vs the spread came while being favored in 8 games.
Similar to their overall ATS record, betting Cincinnati at home, provided mixed results as they covered at a rate of 44.0%. In these games, Cincinnati had a positive average scoring differential of 6.67 points.
Coming into this week’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals, look for Cincinnati to take care of business and cover the -6.5 point spread at home. On their way to covering, look for Cincinnati to have a big game on offense. Last year’s team ranked 8th in points per game, and will be facing a Pittsburgh defense that allowed an average of 23.4 points per contest.
Although Cincinnati has a tough matchup in the passing game, as the Steelers defense had the 12th lowest passer rating allowed, they should still find success through the air, as the team was one of the most efficient passing offenses in 2021-2022.
Free Spread Prediction: Cincinnati Bengals -6.5
Steelers vs Bengals Prediction: Total
Last season, the Steelers had an over-under record of 7-10-0. This week’s betting line of 44.5 is similar to the average over-under line of last year’s team at 43.56 points. However, 59.0% of their contests had betting lines set lower than this week’s figure.
The Steelers accounted for less than half of the overall scoring in the 2021-2022 season at 46.0%. This trend includes games that surpassed the over-under betting line, where the Pittsburgh Steelers were responsible for 43.0% of the points.
When playing on the road, Pittsburgh finished the season averaging 19.5 points per game, right in line with their season average of 20.2. Overall, the team’s defense had their problems on the road, where they allowed 27.5 points per game, compared to their overall figure of 23.41.
Last season, the Bengals had an over-under record of 8-9-0. This week’s betting line of 44.5, is similar to the average over-under line of last year’s team at 46.03 points. However, 59.0% of their contests had betting lines higher than this week’s figure.
Cincinnati accounted for 55.0% of the overall scoring in the 2021-2022 season. This trend includes games that surpassed the over-under betting line, where the Cincinnati Bengals were responsible for 54.0% of the points.
When playing at home, Cincinnati finished the season averaging 27.78 points per game, right in line with their season average of 27.1. Overall, the team’s defense had their problems at home, where they allowed 26.67 points per game, compared to their overall figure of 22.12.
In this week’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, look for the two team’s to surpass the over-under betting line of 44.5 points. Cincinnati comes into the game with an offense that finished the season ranked 6th in yards per play. This week they will be facing a Pittsburgh defense that struggled to prevent big plays, as their yards per play allowed figure of 5.5 was higher than the league average.
One reason that this game could feature more scoring than expected is that Cincinnati’s offense should be able to find success on the ground vs a Pittsburgh defense that finished last year ranked 32nd in rush yards allowed. On average opposing teams ran for 146.1 yards per game.
Free Total Prediction: Over 44.5
Check out this post for a full list of our weekly NFL predictions
