Monday Night Football Predictions & Best Bets - Week 8

In another edition of the Battle for Ohio, we have the Cleveland Browns hosting the Cincinnati Bengals.

Both teams have orange logos, a tremendous festive compliment for this Halloween night game. 

The Browns are coming off a loss, and the Bengals had a huge win. 

However, the Bengals will be without wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase for 4-6 weeks as he recovers from a hip injury.

With that in mind, how does this one shape up? Let’s take a look. 

Monday Night Football Best Bets

Cincinnati Bengals -3 (-110) at DraftKings

On the road in a divisional game, it’s always tempting to take the home underdog, but the Bengals’ offense is firing on all cylinders right now, especially in the passing game, and they get a terrible Browns secondary. 

Of course, though, there’s a massive variable thrown in as Chase will miss time with his injury. 

The defense of the Browns was thought to be the bright spot, but their coverage unit has allowed eight touchdowns and has just two interceptions.

Denzel Ward has always been regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, but this year, he’s allowed a team-high 293 yards and 16 catches and has given up a touchdown.

The Browns have a dynamic rushing attack as always and have a receiver in Amari Cooper that should be able to make things happen, but again, the Browns’ secondary against a group of receivers now headlined by Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, along with tight end Hayden Hurst and even running Joe Mixon, may be too much, even without Chase. 

Burrow is coming off back-to-back three touchdown games, and he threw for 481 last week. 

These teams score around the same points per game, but the holes in the Browns’ secondary will be too much to overcome against Burrow, who looks like he’s gearing up for an MVP run. 

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Over 45.5 (-105) at Caesars

As mentioned, these teams score close to the same points per game, with the Bengals averaging 24.7 and the Browns at 24. 

We mentioned how bad the Browns’ secondary has been, but the Bengals haven’t been all that much better, allowing close to 280 passing yards per game. They have cornerbacks Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton, who are having solid seasons, but Eli Apple on the other side, and even safety Jessie Bates III are having less-than-stellar years.

The difference in the spread comes down to a run-based team against a pass-based team.

The Browns can still score points in this one. Cooper can beat any of these corners one-on-one, and the duo of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt—though Hunt has been a bit of a ghost lately—will generate yards on the ground. 

Brissett isn’t a world-beater in the passing game, but he did complete 81.5% of his passes on 27 attempts against the Baltimore Ravens and has thrown for more than 250 yards in back-to-back games. 

The Bengals win this one 27-21.

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