The Cincinnati Bengals have covered the spread in all five of their home games this season.
They’ll go for a sixth straight home cover Sunday, when the up-and-down Indianapolis Colts visit.
The Bengals are coming off back-to-back wins sandwiched around a bye week. They own a two-game lead in the AFC North, but can’t get caught looking ahead to next week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cincinnati ranks in the top 10 in both pass and run defense.
The Colts have alternated wins and losses in their last five games and opened as 5-point dogs here at Sportsbook. They knocked off the Tennessee Titans last week and lead the AFC South by three games. Indianapolis has struggled to stop the run, ranking 28th in the league in rushing yards.
The Colts have covered the spread in 13 of their last 20 games as underdogs. Other trends include the Colts are 7-1 SU, 5-3 ATS past eight games vs Bengals and the Bengals are 2-6 ATS past eight at home to Colts since 1989.
Backers of the Bengals have seen them go 8-4 and 7-4-1 ATS so far this season, while the Colts are at 8-4 and 7-5 ATS. In totals betting, the Colts are 7-5, while the Bengals are 6-6.
View Indianapolis Colts vs Cincinnati Bengals Odds and Stats.
Sportsbooks, including Sportsbook, had set the Bengals as 5.5-point favorites on the Sportsbook line for this contest. The total was hovering around 44 earlier in the week (check for the current over-under lines at Sportsbook).
It's a betting matchup between the No. 6-rated Bengals and the No. 18-ranked Colts, according to the NFL Power Rankings here at Odds Shark. Predictive-scoring models run on this game indicate a potential 26-21 result in favor of the Bengals.
In their last action, Indianapolis was a 22-14 Sportsbook at home against the Titans. They covered the 3.5-point spread as favorites, while the combined score (36) was profitable news for UNDER bettors. The Bengals grabbed a Week 13 victory over the Chargers in their last game, winning 17-10 at Qualcomm Stadium.
How They Match Up:
The game also pits Cincinnati's No. 12-ranked offense, averaging 24.33 PPG, against a Colts defense that ranks No. 12 this week at 22.83 PPG. The Bengals aerial game is averaging 251.08 yards per game, more than the Colts secondary allows through the air, 238.67 YPG per game.
In comparing defenses, the Colts own the league's No. 17-rated front 7 in terms of stopping the run, allowing 114.5 yards per game when on the road. Cincinnati, on the other hand, rates No. 19 this week in generating rushing yards at home.
A few Colts at Bengals trends to consider:
Indianapolis is 7-3 ATS in its last 10 games
Indianapolis is 17-7 SU in its last 24 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Indianapolis's last 6 games
Indianapolis is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Cincinnati is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games
Cincinnati is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of Cincinnati's last 21 games
Cincinnati is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games at home
Next up:
Indianapolis home to Houston, Sunday, December 15th
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, Sunday, December 15th
