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Edgar Chaput
Bengals vs. Panthers Point Spread: NFL Week 4 Odds, Prediction
The 0-3 Carolina Pant- wait. Hold on a second. Let’s start that again. The 0-3 Cincinnati Bengals are in trouble. After falling to the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football 38-33, Cincy is in dire need of a win. In their path is what might be a more game-than-expected Carolina Panthers outfit. They switched quarterbacks and in proceeded in Week 3 to flatten the Las Vegas Raiders 36-22.
Our NFL odds have faith that the Bengals will leave Carolina with a win, placing them as -4 favourites.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
There are some fun facts about Bengals-Panthers matchups. First, they are among the few pairings to have played to a draw in recent NFL history. Cincinnati and Carolina held each other to a 37-37 stalemate back in 2014. The Bengals still hold a 3-1-1 edge over the past five games. Even though QB Joe Burrow is only in his fifth year as a pro and couldn’t finish two of them due to injuries, he has faced the Panthers once before. That was in 2022 when Cincy bounced Carolina 42-21. QB Andy Dalton is also going up against the franchise with whom he had his most memorable seasons.
Bengals fans know the drill. September is an awful month. 2024 marks the third consecutive season they started at least 0-2, only this is the first when they’ve stumbled to 0-3. Against the spread, the club is 1-2. Ironically, they did not cover against the forgettable Patriots or the unproven Commanders but against the mighty Chiefs. Go figure.
Being in the uninspiring situation that they are, it’s going to be rather straightforward for the Panthers. Since they are underdogs every week, when they’ve won a game, they’ve covered and when they lost, they did not. It is interesting that none of their three contests have been remotely close, win or lose.
Cincinnati Bengals
The only way is up, right? That head coach Zach Taylor’s group cannot escape the annual 0-2 start is, frustratingly, accepted at this point
But Week 3 is when the Cincy turns things around, which made the relative ineptitude against Washington all the more alarming. With o-lineman Trent Brown out for the season, Joe Burrow has even less protection than the minimal amount he’s often anchored with. Burrow has been better week-to-week (seventh in the NFL with 746 yards and a cool 324 with 3 TDs on Monday), but the defence isn’t helping. It coughs up the seventh-most points per game (26.7), is awful against the run (142 per match), and is average on third down (37.5 per cent, 21st).
With WR Tee Higgins finally back on the field, it’s time Ja’Marr Chase (limited at practice Wednesday) makes that final statement for a super contract, especially if the Bengals can’t stop anybody.
Carolina Panthers
If the universe forgot that Andy Dalton is still a capable gunslinger and was at one time considered pretty good, Week 3 was the reminder.
Carolina can breathe a sigh of relief. Nay, exaltation. With a decent QB, the team is not a complete tire fire. They pillaged and took what they wanted in Las Vegas, winning 36-22. Dalton was throwing darts and finished with 319 yards and three majors. Canadian back Chuba Hubbard rolled to 114 yards and former Steeler Diontae Johson, brought in to help Bryce Young, helped Dalton with 122 yards worth of catches and a TD. Adam Thielen, another human some football fans forgot existed, corralled a beauty of a touchdown too (although he’s now on IR).
This is an odd situation. Are the Panthers to be taken seriously, or was this a fun pick-me-up against a woefully inadequate opponent? Sending the Bengals to 0-4 would be a statement.
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