Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals Betting Odds, Analysis, NFL Pick

With a victory on Monday and cover earlier this season, the Cincinnati Bengals are now 8-7 straight up and 9-5-1 against the spread in their AFC North divisional rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens under the current coaching regimes. That includes a 4-0 run, both SU and ATS, over the last four meetings for the Bengals.

With playoff seeding still at stake, Cincinnati hosts the Ravens Sunday.

Point spread: The Bengals opened as seven-point favorites; the total was 42.5 early in the week, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark. (Line updates and matchup report)

NFL pick, via Odds Shark computer: 30.2-13.9 Bengals

Why the Ravens can cover the spread

The injury-depleted Ravens are coming off one of their best efforts of this season, a 20-17 upset of the playoff-contending Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Baltimore started Ryan Mallet, a quarterback they picked up off the street two weeks ago. They stuffed the Steelers on a 4th-and-1 on the opening drive of the game, then drove 75 yards for a touchdown. The Ravens never trailed after that.

On the day the Ravens outgained Pittsburgh 386-303, held a 34-26 advantage in time of possession and picked off Ben Roethlisberger twice. Meanwhile, in his first start for Baltimore, much-maligned Ryan Mallett hit on 28 of 41 throws for 274 yards and one touchdown. He had zero picks.

The Ravens are just playing out the string on a lost season, but this past Sunday's performance had to be encouraging.

Why the Bengals can cover the spread

Cincinnati recently won three of four but just took a tough 20-17 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos on Monday night. The Bengals drove for a touchdown on their opening possession and took a 14-0 lead after another long drive early in the second quarter.

Cincy allowed Denver to rally with 17 straight points and tied the game on a long Mike Nugent field goal with six minutes to go. But the Bengals went dry from there and later lost in overtime after a Broncos field goal and an AJ McCarron fumble.

On the night, the Bengals owned the clock by over nine minutes and covered as four-point dogs.

Monday's loss knocked Cincinnati out of the running for the top seed in the upcoming AFC playoffs, but they can still earn the No. 2 seed and the Wild Card bye with a victory this week and a little help from other teams.

Smart pick

Cincinnati beat Baltimore 28-24 on September, with one of the Ravens' scores coming on a fumble return. And that was before Baltimore got ravaged by the injury bug. Also, while Mallett led the Ravens to a victory last week, there are reasons he was walking the streets two weeks ago. The smart money here backs the Bengals.

Betting trends

The Ravens are 0-4 SU and ATS in their last four games against the Bengals.

The Ravens are 5-0 ATS in their last five games as underdogs in January.

The Bengals are 0-5 ATS in their last five games in January.

All point spread and lines data courtesy of Odds Shark. All quotes were gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line movement updates and get the free odds tracker app.