Revenge is again a theme for a Cincinnati Bengals opponent in Week 13.
Buy Bengals TicketsThis time it’s the visiting Kansas City Chiefs, a Patrick Mahomes-led squad hoping to secure some revenge for last season’s Week 17 loss and the loss in the AFC title game.
It’s almost impossible to get a full grip on which team will actually come out ahead in this one though, which is why oddsmakers have had such a small margin in favor of the Chiefs on the road all week.
On one hand, those Chiefs look outstanding at 9-2. They’re averaging 29.6 points per game and only allowing 22.1 and have won five in a row, putting their last loss all the way back in mid-October against a Super Bowl-contending Buffalo team.
But it all sure feels similar to last year when nobody wanted to give the Bengals much of a chance before they pulled off the upset. Cincinnati started brutally slow for a number of reasons this year but Joe Burrow and Co. have come alive lately.
Now the Bengals are winners in five of their last six, including going to Pittsburgh and Tennessee in back-to-back weeks and picking up big wins. Perhaps even more notable is that the Burrow-led offense has come alive in recent weeks despite the absence of Ja’Marr Chase.
Chase will return for Sunday’s game, though whether it’s a full-go or more as a decoy is hard to say with 100 percent certainty. Either way, the Chiefs secondary, while revamped, has looked a little exploitable at times this year (like Indianapolis’ Matt Ryan pulling the upset).
It’s safe to presume Burrow’s offense can keep moving the ball steadily enough. More concerning is the defense without No. 1 cornerback Chidobe Awuize. Mahomes has completed 66.1 percent of his passes this year with 29 scores and eight picks and when he’s not spamming to the NFL’s best tight end in Travis Kelce, he’ll be attacking Eli Apple and rookie Cam Taylor-Britt on the outside.
Then again, if the scheme that dropped eight players into coverage a bunch against the Chiefs last year can limit Kelce, the duo of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling at wideout while Mecole Hardman sits on injured reserve isn’t the most intimidating.
One can see why this game is so hard to pick. With a pair of top-10 passers who can swing games at any moment, whoever gets the ball last could win. Provided the Bengals defense really has the Mahomes-limiting formula, it might just be an Evan McPherson field goal making his team 3-0 against the Chiefs since last season.
Prediciton: Bengals 27, Chiefs 24
