The second half of the double header of action in the NFL 2024 season on Saturday night could be huge for both teams involved as the Pittsburgh Steelers play host to the Cincinnati Bengals in a crucial AFC North clash.
Whatever happens in the early game, the Cincinnati Bengals will be playing for their season but were the Cleveland Browns to pull off a major upset then the Pittsburgh Steelers will be competing for the chance to win the division and host a postseason game next week.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a very good season so far but they have lost their form at the time they could least have afforded to do it and as such they go into the final week of the season needing a result to go their way elsewhere in order for them to have a chance to win the division. That would appear unlikely to come their way and assuming that it doesn’t then it will be interesting to see how they go about their business in this match.
On one hand the Steelers won’t want to go into the playoffs off the back of four straight defeats, which would be the case were they to lose this match, but at the same time there needs to be a balance of being fresh for whatever next week brings them, which is likely to be a trip to the Houston Texans or the Baltimore Ravens. They have conceded 27 points or more in each of the last three weeks so they need their defence to come back to where they need it and sharpish.
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Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals might have left their run to the playoffs a little too late but going into the final week of the season they are still alive and that didn’t look likely to be the case four weeks ago when they were 4-8 and seemingly going nowhere. To their credit, they have won their last four matches which have all been under the pressure of knowing one more loss would have officially ended their season, and if they can find one more here they would set up a Sunday of hoping results go their way.
The Bengals’ offense has performed pretty well throughout the campaign and has really started coming to the fore when it matters lately, although some absolutely horrendous clock management in their overtime win against the Denver Broncos would be something of a concern. Thankfully their defence has slowly started doing enough to assist in getting the job done at the right time and Joe Burrow and co could do with some plays from the defence here to keep their season alive.
Betting
I’m not a massive fan of taking away sides as favourites in the NFL, especially ones where the home side have had three extra days to recover and prepare for this match, but the fact that the Cincinnati Bengals have to win here and are the ones coming in off the back of a four-match winning streak rather than a three-game losing one makes me think that this is the time where I do it, particularly as at some point the Steelers will surely pull the starters if Baltimore have won earlier in the night which is likely.
The Bengals were beaten 44-38 in the reverse meeting between these two sides but there hasn’t been much since then to suggest that the Steelers are going to put those numbers up, especially if the starters sit even just the final quarter, so I think the Bengals, who have won our since then and scored 27, 37, 24 and 30 in the process, will win this match and a 1.5 point spread isn’t much to have to cover. Ultimately, even though Pittsburgh won’t want to go into the playoffs off the back of four straight defeats, this should be starters for no more than three quarters against a team with starters for the whole game so I’ll go with the Bengals here.
Tips
Back Cincinnati Bengals (-1.5) to beat Pittsburgh Steelers for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
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