Detroit Lions Underdogs For Sixth Straight Week As Cincinnati Bengals Visit Ford Field

The Detroit Lions will make it a perfect 6-for-6 on Sunday, coming in as underdogs once again, this time at home against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6.

According to the major Michigan sportsbooks on Monday, the Lions are 3.5-point underdogs against Joe Burrow and the visiting Bengals. When sportsbooks released lines for Detroit’s first 16 games this summer, the number was 1 point in favor of Cincy. The number stayed at 3.5 across the boards throughout the week and stayed that way Sunday morning.

The over/under was set Monday at 48.5 points at Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM, PointsBet and BetRivers Sportsbook. By the end of the work week, the total had dropped to 47 points or 46.5, depending on the operator.

Cincinnati comes in at 3-2 and with a nice blueprint of what the Lions could look like in a couple years.

Detroit should be looking for its quarterback of the future this offseason, while Cincinnati is looking alright in Burrow’s second season at the helm.

This year, Cincy should be good enough to dust bad teams like the Lions. Oddsmakers are planning for that sort of outcome on Sunday.

After missing two straight weeks, public scattered on Detroit

Bettors have been a little all over the place on Detroit.

The Lions are 3-2 against the spread, covering in Weeks 1, 3 and 5, but losing against the spread every other week.

So the pattern dictates to bet against the Lions this week.

Bettors were on Detroit heavy in a spread loss to Chicago, then were duped on the other side by betting Vikings -10 in a Week 5 game Detroit kept close.

Now, they’re mostly staying away, as BetMGM is reporting Michigan bettors have the most action on the Arizona vs. Cleveland game.

For those who have bet on Cincy at Detroit nationally, FanDuel Sportsbook says 57% of spread handle is on the Lions. Meanwhile, BetMGM has 73% of spread action on the Bengals, and DraftKings MI has it at 70%.

DK also reported 80% of over/under handle on under 46.5 points.

Injury report clean, but no Taylor Decker still

The hope was that left tackle Taylor Decker would be back now, but it’s looking doubtful he plays Sunday. However, the team could still activate him from injured reserve this weekend, though he did not practice Friday.

For the rest of the players who missed some practice time this week, all were at least limited in Friday’s practice and deemed questionable for Sunday. They were defensive end Trey Flowers, running back D’Andre Swift, tight end T.J. Hockenson and running back Jamaal Williams.

For the Bengals, guard D’Ante Smith is out with a knee injury. Cincinnati players questionable for the game include guard Jackson Carman, running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Mike Thomas.

Lions lose again in Minnesota, again in a heartbreaker

Oh, brother.

The Lions fell to 0-5 on Sunday against Minnesota, losing 19-17.

Detroit lost on the last play of regulation for the second time in three weeks, this time as Greg Joseph nailed a 54-yard field goal on the game’s last play.

The Lions had battled back from a 16-6 deficit to take the lead, only to lose for the fifth time to start the season.

Detroit quarterback Jared Goff was 21-of-35 passing on Sunday, throwing 203 yards passing and one interception.

Bengals fall to visiting Green Bay Packers, 25-22

Cincinnati’s visit to Detroit will conclude its tour this season against NFC North teams.

The Bengals opened the season by beating Minnesota and then losing to Chicago.

Then on Sunday, Cincinnati lost 25-22 to the visiting Green Bay Packers, The game went to overtime and featured a bevy of missed field goals, including three by Mason Crosby until he nailed the winning kick. Evan McPherson missed a couple potential game-winning field goals as well for the Bengals.

Lead image credit: AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski