Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals will have to pull off an upset to get the 2020 season and a new era for the franchise started with a win.
According to odds from BetMGM in the wake of Thursday’s schedule release, the Bengals are 3.5-point home underdogs against the visiting Los Angeles Chargers.
The game has the feel of an effective toss-up. Cincinnati sitting as traditional home three-point favorites would’ve made sense considering the Chargers have to make such a long trip.
Regardless, those Chargers are just a season removed from a 12-win campaign after regressing to six last year. They — like the Bengals with Burrow — could be starting a rookie passer with Justin Herbert.
Burrow and a revamped Bengals roster will have to deal with a strong Joey Bosa-led pass-rush right out of the gates, creating an interesting elite-level opposition for a rookie passer to digest early.
We’re still a long way from the week of this one, obviously, so the line can still move. But it only seems fitting a team that has loved the underdog role over the years will start a new era as one yet again.
