NFL trends: Cincinnati Bengals only team to go under betting win total past 4 years
The Cincinnati Bengals are the only team in the NFL to finish under the season betting win total four years running.
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The Cincinnati Bengals have a win total of Over-Under 5.5 at William Hill sportsbook for the 2020 NFL Season. The Over is a -140 favorite. If recent history is any indication, the Under is the wise wager at +120. That's because Cincinnati is the only team in the NFL to finish Under its betting win total each of the past four seasons.
The last time the Bengals finished Over was in 2015 – their fifth straight year going Over -- when they had a regular-season win total of 8.5 and cruised past that in finishing 12-4 and winning the AFC North. That was the fifth year in a row the franchise made the playoffs but also the last time – and, naturally, Cincinnati lost its playoff opener under then-coach Marvin Lewis.
Lewis finished his career there 0-7 in postseason games, forced out after the 2018 season. The Bengals haven't won a playoff game since following the 1990 season, which is the NFL's longest drought.
In 2016, Cincinnati was given a win total of 9.5 but slipped to 6-9-1. The Bengals were a bit unlucky as their final five losses were all by five points or fewer. Andy Dalton actually had one of his better seasons in throwing for 4,206 yards and just eight interceptions.
The following year, the Bengals had a win total of 8.5 and finished 7-9. The team started 0-3 – losing two of those games by a combined seven points (one in OT) – and that was essentially that.
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Many were surprised that Lewis was back in 2018 when the Bengals had a win total of 6.5 and finished at 6-10. Dalton, who had been very durable in his career, was limited to 11 games. Jeff Driskel started the others. Cincinnati had a chance to finish 7-9 as it led 10-0 in Pittsburgh late in the second quarter of Week 17 but would lose 16-13 in Lewis' final game.
In 2019 under first-year coach Zac Taylor, the Bengals finished a league-worst 2-14 after being given a win total of 6. Star wideout AJ Green didn't play a down after injuring his ankle early in training camp. Taylor benched Dalton for three games in favor of fourth-round rookie Ryan Finley, and that went about as well as expected with the Bengals losing all three games and not scoring more than 13 points in any of them.
On the bright side, that 2-14 mark earned Cincinnati the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and the opportunity to take LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. He's the +225 favorite to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Dalton is now with Dallas.