The Cincinnati Bengals traveled to South Beach in Week 5, hoping to end a two-game skid against the winless Miami Dolphins. The Bengals closed as seven-point favorites in most sportsbooks and 6.5-point favorites in others. A Bengals coverage was never in doubt for the majority of the game.
By halftime, the Bengals had built a 14-point lead thanks to three passing touchdowns from star quarterback Joe Burrow. That lead grew to 18 points by the time we reached the fourth quarter after a 45-yard touchdown run by Ja’Marr Chase.
However, Malik Willis cut the Bengals’ lead to 10 points with a touchdown pass to Kevin Coleman Jr. and a successful two-point conversion to Greg Dulcich with seven minutes remaining in the final quarter. Following a Bengals punt, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen stripped Willis of the ball deep in Dolphins territory and recovered it at the Miami 10-yard line. It seemed like the game was well in hand.
The Dolphins then held the Bengals to a 26-yard field goal, which increased Cincinnati’s lead to 13 points. Willis then took his offense 61 yards down the field and scored a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to seven points with less than a minute to play.
Since a two-point conversion wouldn’t do anything, the Dolphins kicked out Riley Patterson for the extra point in hopes of making it a six-point game. Then the Dolphins could attempt the onside kick. But Patterson made the kickoff to the left upright!
The Dolphins couldn’t recover their onside kick, and the Bengals took a knee twice to secure a 31-24 victory! Bengals -6.5 bettors had a wild win, while +7 bettors at least got a boost. Talk about a bad beat for those who support the Dolphins +6.5!
The 3-2 Bengals are off to their best five-game start since 2021, the year they reached the Super Bowl, while the 0-5 Dolphins just became the fifth team since 1950 to not hold a lead in any of their first five games.
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