NFL Week 4 Betting – Sputtering Chiefs Visit Perfect Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs at Cincinnati Bengals (-4, 44 o/u)

The Cincinnati Bengals (3-0, 1-0 home) will look to stay unbeaten this weekend when they host the Kansas City Chiefs (1-2, 1-1 road), who are hoping to avoid a third straight loss. The Chiefs and Bengals will clash this Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium (1:00 PM Eastern Time).

The Bengals are 3-0 after winning a second-half shootout with division rival Baltimore in Week 3. Their 28-24 road win came on the strength of huge days from QB Andy Dalton (383 yards, three TDs, and one INT) and WR AJ Green (227 receiving yards and two scores).

The Bengals started last season 3-0 as well before getting pasted by the Patriots in Prime Time (43-17). That game saw Dalton continue a string of terrible performances under the lights. Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson has been complimentary of the fifth-year QB so far, but (likely due to Dalton’s penchant for up-and-down play) acknowledges that there is a lot of season left to go.

“He’s taken himself to another level and I think the real great players in this league, that’s what they do,” Jackson said of his pivot. “Not that he deserves that kind of praise yet. We’ve got a lot of games to win in order for him to reach that.”

The Chiefs have struggled somewhat offensively this season with head coach Andy Reid and QB Alex Smith implementing overly conservative game plans. (The team is averaging just 217.0 passing yards per game, 25th in the league.)

Their 38-28 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Monday wasn’t as close as the score suggests; KC was able to nickle-and-dime its way down the field in the fourth quarter when the Packer defense essentially started giving them the underneath balls.

At least one good thing did come out of that game for the KC offense, though. Smith connected with WR Jeremy Maclin for a touchdown, ending an 18-game stretch in which the Chiefs failed to get a TD catch from a wide receiver. Smith and Maclin have a decent chance to make it two straight games against a Cincy secondary that gave up 186 yards and two majors to Baltimore’s top wide out, Steve Smith Sr., just last week.

Turning to the trends, Cincinnati is 4-1 SU in its last five at home against Kansas Cit. While that trend isn’t overly relevant – stretching back over a decade – Paul Brown Stadium has continued to be a safe haven for the Bengals; the team is 14-4-1 ATS in its last 19 games, overall, at home.

Pick: Bengals -4.

(Photo credit: Navin75 (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)