It’s time to kick off Championship Weekend in the NFL Playoffs with both games being played on Sunday, January 30, 2022. In this article, I will preview the AFC Championship Game matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs with the spread, moneyline and total.
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Plus, I’ll discuss where I’m currently leaning with my AFC Championship Game Picks.
Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs
Sunday at 3 pm ET on CBS
CIN: +285
KC: -360
Bengals +7 (-110)
When these two teams met recently in Week 17, the Bengals came away with the thrilling 34-31 victory. Cincinnati overcame three different 14-point deficits in order to finally get the win, stunning even their own home crowd in the process.
It’s tough to go against the Bengals at this point. After all, they are basically on a five-game winning streak if we take away the Week 18 loss to the Cleveland Browns when they were resting most of their starting players. Also worth mentioning, the Bengals have not lost a game on the road all season by more than five points; they lost two road games by three points and the Week 18 loss to the Browns was by five points.
Alternate Total: Under 55.5 Points (-130)
Even though we had 65 points combined in the first Bengals-Chiefs matchup in Week 17, I’m feeling the total going under 55.5 points. You do have to pay up a little more in order to get there, but it’s not much — and it’ll totally be worth it.
The one factor I keep coming back to is the Bengals kicker Evan McPherson nailing at least four field goals in each of the first two playoff games. I’m obviously not saying the Cincy gets all field goals, because then it wouldn’t cover the spread. However, it is more of a result of how Bengals’ games have been going in recent memory. I have praised this defense all season and believe they will be able to give Patrick Mahomes and his weapons a little more trouble than most would think.
