Steelers open as 17-point favorites over Bengals in Week 17

The Pittsburgh Steelers will need to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17 and hope the Baltimore Ravens lose to the Cleveland Browns if they are they are to make the playoffs this season. But if the opening lines are anything to go by, while the Steelers are expected to win easily this weekend, it seems the bookmakers have little faith in the Browns holding up their end of the deal.

Although Pittsburgh opened as 17-point favorites on Sunday night, a line that had fallen to 14-points as of Monday afternoon, Cleveland opened as 7.5-point underdogs. However, that spread had reduced to 5.5-points at the time of writing, with the betting public showing a bit more belief that the Browns could actually record the upset.

An initial totals position of 48-points is now showing at 46.5-points for the Steelers matchup with the Bengals, while a huge opening moneyline price of -2000 has been almost cut in half to -1099. From an opening price of +215 to win the game outright, +195 is now the best price available on Cleveland to beat Baltimore straight-up .

The Steelers have won their last seven in a row against Cincinnati and 10 of their last 11. The Bengals have also lost six of their last seven games played in 2018. Despite winning their Week 5 encounter with Baltimore, Cleveland have lost their previous five matchups against them. Both have won five of their last six regular season games.