After a couple of heartbreaking defeats in crunch time of championship and conference games in the previous two seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals are ready for another strong push this time around.
A last-minute LA Rams drive prevented them from taking the Super Bowl two years ago, while a late charge from Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs to a game-winning field goal in the final minute of the AFC championship game last year.
The Bengals return with an improved offensive unit led by Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase as the superstars. They seem destined for a deep playoff challenge. If they all stay healthy and if the “Fortune Queen” helps them in the decisive moments of crunch games, the Bengals may easily bring the maiden Vince Lombardi trophy to their cabinet this year.
Cincy enters the season as one of the top five Super Bowl contenders. They are the third favorite in the AFC, while sportsbooks consider them frontrunners for the division three-peat. If they again conquer AFC North, they’ll become the first team in this millennium to do so.
Sportsbooks in the USA have prepared a ton of Cincinnati Bengals futures markets ahead of the season. Below, we share our thoughts and predictions, highlighting our three favorite Bengals NFL betting options.
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Cincinnati Bengals Over 10.5 Wins (-130) at DraftKings
There is a lot to like about this line. The Bengals are laying the points in all but four of 17 games this season, with two other ties being labeled as pick ’em. Knowing the Bengals have managed the best ATS (Against The Spread) record in the entire league in the last three seasons combined (36-19-1 along the way), it is very hard to look past the Over for the 10.5 wins line in the 2023 campaign.
The team showed character last year, going 13-6 against the spread despite the aforementioned heartbreaking last-minute defeat to the LA Rams in the 2022 Super Bowl.
Cincinnati built up their offensive unit by signing tackle Orlando Brown Jr., while Irv Smith Jr. will fill in Hayden Hurst’s shoes in the tight end position.
The retention of linebacker Germaine Pratt is good news, but getting Joe Mixon to stay on a significant pay cut certainly represents the best bit of offseason business. Add the No. 28 draft pick of edge rusher Myles Murphy and two more top 100 selections (DJ Turner and Jordan Battle), and you get an improved side ready to cause damage.
Stop unit is by no means elite, but defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has already proved to have what it takes to get the most out of this group of players. All three AFC North rivals look to have improved their offensive lines as well, which is why some experts worry about Cincy’s defensive unit.
That said, we expect the arguably best offensive line to step up and do the heavy lifting in close games. With healthy Burrow, Chase, Higgins, and company, we just can’t see this Cincinnati team failing to win at least a dozen games in the regular season.
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Ja’Marr Chase to Win the Offensive Player of the Year Award (+1200) at BetRivers
We are generally much more conservative with our futures’ choices, and you will rarely see us going big on a bet with +1200 odds. This is a very difficult market to land purely because of the sheer number of potential winners. You never know which player can suddenly go on a hot streak and stun everyone with surreal performances.
That said, we just can’t ignore the +1200 odds offered for Ja’Marr Chase to win the flagship award in 2023. Here is the reasoning.
Chase stands tall in touchdown catch odds for the whole league this season. He managed 9 in 12 outings in 2022. Much like Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr is also in his contract year, and we have all reasons to expect his greater offensive output.
Also, the team’s defensive unit has lost two starting safeties this summer, meaning the Bengals will need to rely on offense to stay as aggressive as possible throughout the whole course of each game.
The schedule works perfectly in favor of this pick, as the Bengals play only four teams projected to be inside the Top 10 in defensive stats in 2023. As many as eight of their remaining rivals are below the 20th position in these same rankings, including the likes of Texans, Colts, Cardinals, Vikings, and Rams. Finally, three of the previous four winners of this award were receivers.
So, we have a legit Super Bowl contender relying exclusively on pass games, with an improved offensive line and one of the best quarterbacks on the planet. Ja’Marr Chase is Joe Burrow’s favorite target and the focal point of Cincy’s offense. By all means, we can see a path to his massive season.
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Joe Burrow Over 33.5 Regular Season Passing Touchdowns (+100) at DraftKings
Joe Burrow has the best-receiving corps in the league, with the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd. Only Patrick Mahomes (41) has beaten his 35 passing touchdowns last year, and everything points towards an even better campaign for Joe this time around.
Burrow should be more protected this year with the latest additions to the team’s offensive line. We can only imagine what several extra breaths would do to his already extraordinary output, knowing he has been sacked more than 90 times in the last couple of seasons as a Bengal.
Here are some numbers to show the extent to which a passing offense dominates plays on the ground when it comes to this Cincinnati team. The Bengals ended the last season ranked second in passing touchdowns, fifth in passing yards, seventh in points scored, and eighth in yards in the whole league.
On the other side, they were 29th in rushing yards and 29th in yards per carry. Other than retaining Joe Mixon, the Bengals have not done much to bolster their ground game. They lost Samaje Perine in free agency.
This only means that we should expect even more plays through the air. The conclusion is that a healthy Joe Burrow should not have any problems going above this line for regular-season touchdowns in 2023, and DraftKings will pay us plus odds. We only need him to avoid injuries.
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Other Exciting Bengals Futures Markets
Being one of the main Super Bowl contenders this year, the Cincinnati Bengals are a very popular team to bet on ahead of the start of the season. Sportsbooks know it, and they are currently offering a wide range of all sorts of futures markets. We will mention the most popular ones as well as those we find particularly interesting or worth backing.
- Cincinnati Bengals to Win Super Bowl (+1100) at BetMGM Sportsbook
- Cincinnati Bengals to Win AFC (+550) at BetMGM Sportsbook
- Cincinnati Bengals to Win AFC North (+155) at BetMGM Sportsbook
The Cincinnati Bengals have enough weapons to go all the way. The best offense in the league is very much capable of compensating for any defensive flaws. The aforementioned Cincy futures odds, by all means, look attractive if we know the potential this team has, as well as the fact they’ve been to the Super Bowl two seasons ago and the AFC championship game last year.
AFC North is the strongest division in the league, but the Bengals are still firm favorites to clinch it for the third year running. The choice between the three futures odds (Super Bowl, AFC, AFC North) is all yours. We will only say that there is value in each option, the biggest probably with the Super Bowl at +1100.
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Cincinnati Bengals to go 5-0 at the Start of the Season (+500) at DraftKings
The Bengals are the favorites in all six inaugural games of the season up until a bye in Week 7. If they go through the opening two matches unharmed, a 5-0 start of the season will be well on the cards.
The first game is the trickiest of the lot as the Bengals visit the Cleveland Browns in a big division matchup. The books see them as -2.5 favorites there. They are then field goal favorites at home against the Baltimore Ravens before three easier games against the Rams, Titans, and Cardinals.
The value is tremendous with the +500 odds offered for Cincy to open the 2023 campaign with a 5-0 record.
- Joe Burrow to Win the MVP Award (+800) at BetRivers
- Joe Burrow Over 4425.5 Passing Yards in a Regular Season (+100) at DraftKings
Speaking of value, we can’t ignore the lucrative +800 odds for Joe Burrow to win the MVP award. He has taken this team to two straight conference championship games and is now behind the best offensive line he has ever had in Cincinnati following the signing of Orlando Brown Jr.
Only Mahomes has shorter odds for this prestigious award, and we would not be surprised to see the two men taking on each other once again in the AFC title match next year. Burrow managed 4475 passing yards (279.7 per game) last year. If he stays healthy, he should also easily go above the 4425.5 line offered ahead of this season.
- Sam Hubbard to Win the Defensive Player of the Year Award (+10000) at DraftKings
- Myles Murphy to Win the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award (+3500) at DraftKings
We will finish the article by mentioning two Bengals candidates for the remaining individual awards. We would warmly advise you to skip each of the two options because Cincinnati’s defensive line is by no means worth investing in, even at such attractive price tags. Stick to the offense and let Burrow and Chase do their magic.
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