MNF Preview and Betting Guide for Bengals vs Steelers

The Cincinnati Bengals (0-3) and Pittsburgh Steelers (0-3) enter primetime football on Monday Night looking for their first win of the season. Most likely, one team will get their first win tonight but don’t count out the possibility of a tie knowing the bad blood and bad play between the two.

Both teams are coming off 4-point road losses, the Steelers 24-20 to the 49ers, and Bengals 21-17 to the Bills. The Steelers, of course, are a 3.5-point favorite given home-field advantage and the fact they own a 16 home game winning streak on Monday Night Football dating back to 1991. The O/U is set at 45, a solid number considering the history of defensive matches in recent years.

The Bengals are 6-0 ATS in their last six games dating back to last year and are 6-1 ATS in their previous seven games as the road team. No team has ever made the playoffs after starting 0-4, so this will be the last chance to turn around a disappointing start to the season for both teams.

Pittsburgh has won 7-straight games against Cincinnati dating back to the 2015 playoffs. In those 7 games, the Steelers have only won one game by more than 8 points and by 4 or more, four times. The Steelers have gone 0-3 four times in franchise history and won 3-of-4 those Week 4 matchups.

Cincinnati’s offense ranks third in the NFL coming into Week 4 for passing yards per game (308.3) while Pittsburgh’s pass defense allows the third-most yards per game (302.7). After adding Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Steelers defense allowed 277 yards through the air to Jimmy Garoppolo picking him off twice and forcing and recovering two fumbles.

Pittsburgh is struggling offensively on the ground and through the air without the Killer B’s. The passing attack is ranked 26th with 205.3 passing yards per game and the rushing offense isn’t much better. The Steelers are 29th in the league with 64 yards per game, and the Bengals are on the few who are worse. The Bengals are dead last with 41.7 rushing yards per game.

Defensively, it doesn’t get much better as both rushing defenses are terrible. The Bengals allow the second-most rushing yards a game (168.7) behind the Dolphins and the Steelers (139.3) aren’t far behind at 27. This can either be a breakout game for one or both of the rushing offenses or air it out type of game with more penalties than points.

Betting Tips:

Tyler Boyd, John Ross, and Joe Mixon have all played significant roles in the offense and tonight should be no different. Boyd played at Pitt and on Heinz Field making him a homecoming pick for fantasy lineups and bettors. Mixon had 17 touches for 94 yards last week vs a great Bills defense and will have the opportunity to take advantage of a Steelers defense that had its best performance last week and still lost.

The Steelers defense also surrendered 11 catches, 107 yards and 2 touchdowns to George Kittle and Will Dissly the past two weeks making Bengals tight ends Tyler Eifert and CJ Uzomah intriguing grabs in daily fantasy or prop betting for touchdowns. Eifert has faced the Steelers six times in his career only scoring once during his rookie campaing in 2013.

Offensively, the Steelers need help. James Conner doesn’t even have a total of 100 rushing yards on the season and Juju Smith-Schuster needed a breakout 76-yard score to get his first touchdown of the season. The Steelers also traded for TE Nick Vannett from the Seahawks as insurance for Vance McDonald being banged up. Young quarterbacks rely on tight ends often including the goal line and we already saw Rudolph got to McDonald twice in the red zone for touchdowns in Week 2 vs the Seahawks.

Player Props:
Tyler Boyd: To score TD (+180) or 2 TDs (+1100)
Joe Mixon: Receiving Yards – Over 17.5 (-115)
Mason Rudolph: Passing Yards – Under 242.5

Tight End Prop Value:
Nick Vannett: To score TD (+425), To score TD and win (+600)
Tyler Eifert: To score TD (+400) or C.J. Uzomah (+550)

I, along with most people think this will be a low-scoring snooze affair between the two. Only two of the past seven games have hit 44 total points or gone over and without Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Leveon Bell, and A.J. Green there isn’t much hope that total goes over now.

Tonight will be a night of field goals. Both teams have touchdowns O/U set at 2.5 and the under is intriguing for both teams for primetime under bettors. If you’re doing that then it only makes sense to double down on the over for field goals makes sense. The team totals O/U for Field Goals is 2.5 and that seems safer than taking the over for each teams touchdowns.

The first score of the game for a field goal is a great value for tonight and can be a solid way to start the night depending on which side you want to ride with for the score: PIT Field Goal (+325) or CIN Field Goal (+400).

Game Props:
1st Quarter: PIT FG Over 0.5 (+137)
Halftime: Total Touchdowns Under 2.5 (-143)
Full Game: Under 45
Full Game Teaser: Under 38 (+210)
Winning Margin: PIT to win by 1-6 points (+325)

This will be a close game with either side taking this one. I’m backing the Steelers success on Monday Night and recent success vs the Bengals as the final factors tonight. Backing the Bengals +3.5 or teasing up to +6.5 at -177 seems the safest if you want to bet on this game. B

Final Score Prediction: PIT 19 – CIN 17
Final Pick: CIN +3.5 and Under 43.5 (+240)

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