The Cincinnati Bengals are suddenly favorites over the Kansas City Chiefs in the upcoming AFC title game.
Right after the divisional round ended and the spreads opened, the Bengals were underdogs by a few points on the road in Arrowhead Stadium.
But it took all of 24 hours for that status to flip.
According to the lines at Tipico Sportsbook, the Bengals are favored by 1.5 points as of this writing. It’s a line that has slowly continued to grow (over/under at 46.5 points).
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The flip isn’t too surprising given the up-in-the-air status of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who suffered a high ankle sprain during the playoff win over the Jaguars. So far, it sounds like Mahomes will play, but whether he’ll practice and how effective he will be is a question mark influencing the line and bettors.
Joe Burrow and the Bengals deserve some credit too, of course. They looked dominant in the second round while going to Buffalo and beating the Bills 27-10 in the snow and Burrow is already 3-0 against Mahomes in the Chiefs over the course of two regular season matchups and last year’s AFC title game.
There’s little reason to expect this won’t be another classic between the two teams. Mahomes on one leg and strictly as a pocket passer is still arguably the NFL’s best, so it’s understandable if the line hardly moves from here and bettors stay away.
Regardless, the Bengals sitting as road favorites in a conference title game says quite a bit about how everyone views them from the outside now, too.
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