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It’s Week 11 of our NFL Sunday Night Football preview series. This week we get to see the Cincinnati Bengals travel to take on the Los Angeles Chargers. Two teams trying to make the playoffs – it’s offense versus defense this Sunday.
The Bengals come into this one at 4-6, a little behind what most would have predicted coming into the season. The offense has been pretty solid this season, avering 27 points per game going into this one. While at first glance it sounds pretty good, they are giving up an average of 26.2 points per game, leaving very little wiggle room for wins. The Bengals have had injury troubles this season, including missing WR Tee Higgins for the last three games with a quad injury. WR Ja’marr Chase has missed time, and Joe Burrow has also been repeatedly making appearances on the weekly injury reports. Higgins is looking good to return this week, and they are going to have to improve on that point margin, one way or another, if they plan to make the playoffs.
The Chargers have seemed to steady the ship, coming in on a 3-game win streak. The defense has been the star all year, the best scoring defense by far, allowing only 13.1 points per game. This is a couple points away from Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens circa 2000. The offense is also taking steps in the right direction, averaging 6 more points per game over the last 3, versus the season average. Even with the 19th rank scoring offense, the Charges are a top 5 team in average scoring margin. They may not have the star-riddled flashy offense of some, but they make good decisions, and are steady on both sides of the ball. New Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, seems to have the crew pointed towards the playoffs.
Bodog has the Chargers as -1.5 point favorites at the time of writing this article, helped by the return of Tee Higgins, in my opinion. The Chargers average scoring margin is +6.9 compared to the Bengals this season, and an even better +16.3 average over the last three games. It’s been a while since the Bengals have played a tough D, but they also have a returning superstar. Can the underperforming team with a returning WR outscore the Chargers, or will the Chargers hold strong and keep trudging toward the playoffs?
Howe Fresh
Fresh Takes Sports Podcast
