The Cincinnati Bengals enter their Week 5 contest against the Detroit Lions with major, major issues.
The Bengals have lost starting quarterback Joe Burrow indefinitely due to a Grade 3 turf toe injury that required surgery. Since his absence, the team has been relying on Jake Browning, but the backup signal-caller has been bad, to say the least.
Meanwhile, the Lions are chugging right along with a 3-1 record and look the part of the Super Bowl contender many pegged them to be going into the 2025 campaign.
Despite the fact that the Lions are the road team in this contest, they are a whopping 10.5-point favorite over the Bengals this week, per FanDuel.
According to Stathead.com, that spread is the biggest for the Lions in a road game in 52 years (H/T Jeremy Reisman, Pride of Detroit). You would have to go all the way back to 1973 to find the last time the Lions were 10.5-point favorites on the road.
Not all hope is lost for the Bengals, who still sit with a 2-2 mark despite Browning's issues under center. However, if he keeps playing the way he has, Cincinnati is in deep trouble.
"I've got a ton of confidence in Jake," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I'm unwavering in that. I've seen the best of Jake. I know that we can do a great job supporting him to where he can go win games for us. So, I feel extremely confident in Jake Browning."
After losing in Week 1, the Lions have bounced back in a big way by winning their last three games. Detroit is averaging a mind-blowing 41.3 points per game in that span.
Detroit's elite offense is going to give Cincinnati's defense plenty of fits. The Bengals' unit is giving up the sixth-most points per game this season.
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