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| Cincinnati Bengals | San Diego Chargers |
The San Diego Chargers picked up a big victory last Sunday, outlasting the Chiefs in Kansas City 41-38. So at 5-6 the Bolts are situated in a crazy six-way tie for the second AFC wild-card spot.
San Diego now heads home with a chance to get to .500 when it hosts the AFC North-leading Cincinnati Bengals Sunday afternoon (4:25 pm ET, CBS).
The Chargers just snapped a three-game losing streak, getting a 26-yard Philip Rivers scoring strike with 20 seconds to go for the victory Sunday in KC. That win kept San Diego alive, for the moment, in the AFC playoff race.
On the other side of this match-up Cincy just beat Cleveland 41-20 and at 7-4 owns a two-game lead in the AFC North. If the playoffs started today the Bengals would be the four seed in the AFC.
As of early this week the Chargers, who lost at home game to Cincy last year 20-13, were favored by a point and a half for Sunday's game at Sportsbook. Of note, six of the past seven meetings between these teams have played OVER the total and the Bengals are a money-losing 1-6-1 ATS in their past eight road games.
They will face the 7-4 Bengals, who own a 6-4-1 ATS mark on the season. In totals betting, the Chargers are 5-6 favoring the UNDER so far this season while the Bengals are 6-5 favoring the OVER.
View Cincinnati Bengals vs San Diego Chargers Odds and Stats.
The Chargers were listed as 1.5-point underdogs at Sportsbook and other online sportsbooks, with the total listed at one point at 48 at Sportsbook.
According to the Power Rankings here at OddsShark it's the No. 12-rated Chargers and the No. 5-rated Bengals in this matchup. Predictive formulas point to a 27-22 win for the Bengals on Sunday.
Cincinnati was a 41-20 Sportsbook in its last match at home against the Browns. They covered the 4.5-point spread as favorites, while the total score of 61 sent OVER bettors to the payout window. Philip Rivers dusted the Chiefs secondary for 3 TDs last time out as the Chargers defeated Kansas City 41-38 at Arrowhead Stadium.
How They Match Up:
Offensively, the game matches up San Diego's No. 13-ranked offense (24.45 PPG) against a Bengals defense that ranks No. 6 at 18.73 PPG. The Chargers passing attack has averaged 296.91 yards per game, more than the Bengals give up through the air (211.09 YPG on average).
In comparing defenses, the Bengals own the league's No. 11-rated front 7 in terms of stopping the run, allowing 103.17 yards per game when on the road. San Diego, on the other hand, rates No. 15 this week in generating rushing yards at home.
A few Bengals at Chargers trends to consider:
Cincinnati is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Cincinnati's last 6 games
Cincinnati is 1-5-1 ATS in its last 7 games on the road
Cincinnati is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Diego's last 7 games
The total has gone UNDER in 16 of San Diego's last 24 games at home
San Diego is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Cincinnati
San Diego is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games when playing Cincinnati
Next up:
Cincinnati home to Indianapolis, Sunday, December 8th
San Diego home to New York, Sunday, December 8th
