Bengals vs. Eagles Point Spread: NFL Pre-Season Week 1 Odds, Prediction
After a long and eventful offseason, the 2025 NFL season is rapidly approaching, and the quest to reach the Super Bowl will get underway in roughly a month’s time.
However, before we can get to the start of the campaign, there is plenty of preseason NFL action for NFL fans and bettors alike to enjoy. This week, we’ll see every team across the league play its first of three preseason games, as each team looks to ease back into game shape while players slowly ramp up for the new season.
As the preseason rolls on this week, one of the marquee games features the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Cincinnati Bengals in a game between a pair of teams that appear to be trending in different directions heading into the season.
The Bengals opened as 6.5-point favourites to win on the NFL odds, with the total set at 37.5.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Generally speaking, the Eagles have not approached the preseason with much enthusiasm in the Nick Sirriani era. In fact, Philadelphia is 3-7-2 straight up and 4-7-1 against the spread since Sirriani took over as head coach back in 2021.
On the other side, the Bengals haven’t been any better in this regard, as Cincinnati is just 3-12 straight up and against the number in the preseason since Zac Taylor became the coach back in 2019.
Neither team has experienced much preseason success, but Cincinnati is favoured in this contest, with the Bengals sitting as 6.5-point favourites on the road. The total for this contest is 37.5, which is fairly common for a preseason game.
Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati has typically not approached the preseason with a sense of vigour or high intensity. However, that could change a bit this season, especially with how poorly the Bengals have played in September over the past few seasons.
Zac Taylor has indicated that Joe Burrow and his starters will play “several series’” over the course of the preseason, including Thursday’s opener against Philadelphia. However, the biggest workload should come against the Washington Commanders on Aug. 18.
As for this preseason opener specifically, the Bengals are likely going to be without a few key players due to injury, including CB Cam Taylor-Britt and TE Mike Gesicki. Jake Browning and Desmond Ridder are expected to get most of the snaps at quarterback, and given that both have real starting QB experience at this level, this should give the visitors an edge.
Philadelphia Eagles
Unlike the Bengals, the Eagles have not yet revealed their plans for how they’ll attack the preseason. However, the defending Super Bowl champions shouldn’t be expected to play their starters all that much, especially with the extremely difficult schedule that lies ahead in the 2025 regular season.
Philadelphia brings in a ton of new pieces on defence, along with another new offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo, for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ offence to adapt to.
NFL Prediction: Who Will Win Bengals vs. Eagles?
With all of the uncertainty on the Philadelphia side of things, the Bengals are our preferred side in this preseason opener.
For starters, we know that Cincinnati is going to give its starters real playing time in this game, including Burrow and a couple of the stars on offence. Going up against the Eagles’ backups on defence should be the perfect tonic for a Bengals offence that is looking to get some positive reps in before the regular season starts.
As for Philadelphia, the Eagles shouldn’t be expected to give Hurts, Saquon Barkley and others on the offence much playing time in any preseason game, and for good reason. Sirianni’s preseason track record is one that speaks for itself, and we’ll bank on that poor run of form to continue on Thursday. With a 23-16 prediction in Cincinnati’s favour, Bengals -6.5 looks the right side to be on.
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