Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals 2010 NFL Predictions, Odds, and Picks Week 9: Head football coach Mike Tomlin will take the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road to face AFC East divisional foe the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Field on Monday Night Football at 8:30 PM ET. The Steelers come to town at 5-2 and in 2nd place in the AFC North while the Bengals talented unit is 2-5 and tied for last in the division. Pittsburgh went on a 5 game losing streak last season that started with Cincinnati and now they look to make it 5 losses in a row for their division rival. “I don’t know if there’s a worse feeling than losing a bunch of games in a row,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “This is definitely a low for this group and a low for myself, but in no way are we packing it in.”
The Bengals will have a difficult time turning things around against a Pittsburgh defense that is one of the best in the league in almost every category. The Steeler offense is still struggling to get in sync as Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has only been back under center the last two games. “You can’t make excuses. We have to play better,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “We never got into any rhythm. This is definitely a gut check for us. We got knocked down a little bit and now it will be interesting to see how we will bounce back.” The odds makers at Diamond have the Pittsburgh Steelers -5 point favorites on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers are coming off a road loss 20-10 at the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. Big Ben completed 17 of 28 passes for 195 yards and a pick hitting 8 different receivers with a completion. Rashad Mendenhall carried 15 times for 71 yards and caught 2 passes for 14 more yards. Pittsburgh is 4-3 ATS for the season. Vegas odds makers have the Pittsburgh Steelers as +750 odds to win the 2011 Super Bowl.
The Bengals most recently lost at home to the Miami Dolphins 22-14. Quarterback Carson Palmer completed 17 of 38 passes for 156 yards with 2 touchdowns and a pick. Running back Cedric Benson carried the ball 20 times for just 69 yards. The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Cincinnati’s last 9 games when playing at home against Pittsburgh. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 41 1/2 points combined of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.
I predict 5 straight losses for the Bengals with a Steeler win!