The Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans play Saturday in an AFC divisional round NFL playoff game.
Which team will get the victory?
Check out these NFL playoff picks and predictions for the game, which can be seen at 2:30 p.m. MST on CBS and Paramount +.
The Titans are a 3.5-point favorite in the game.
NFL playoff picks: Divisional-round games
Ben Rolfe writes: “The first matchup of the Divisional Round presents a clash in styles between the Titans and Bengals. Tennessee ran the ball more than any other team this season, while Cincinnati has tended to be more balanced. Therefore, the keys to this game are the Bengals’ run defense and the Titans’ pass defense. Tennessee will be buoyed by the expected return of Derrick Henry. If Henry is active, his health could be crucial. If he is back to his best, the Titans will have the ability to control the game and keep the Bengals defense on the field. However, if Henry is rusty, the Bengals have a great chance to cause the upset. If Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase can get going the way they were early against the Raiders, they will be tough to stop. In a weekend that feels like we have four reasonably even matchups, this could be the first of several upsets this week.
Fox Sports: Titans will beat Bengals
Geoff Schwartz writes: “I like the Titans to win this game. They are rested and ready for battle.”
Pete Fiutak writes: “Originally, the call was that New England was going to roll on into Nashville and grind its way to a win … oops. Cincinnati will get the offense going, but the rested Titans will come back in the second half with the ground game and fantastic run defense getting this done.”
NFL playoff odds: Divisional-round games
Five Thirty Eight: Titans have a 66% win probability
The site gives the Bengals a 34% win probability in the NFL playoff game.
Action Network: Lean towards the Titans to cover vs. Bengals
Brandon Anderson writes: “I waited all season to bet against the Titans in the playoffs. I picked all 272 regular-season games; I backed the Titans in exactly two. I’ve been fading them all year. And I was practically drooling over the chance to fade this fraudulent 1-seed into oblivion. But you have to play the matchup in front of you. The Titans did juuust enough to eke out a three-point win over the terrible Texans in the regular-season finale, barely hanging onto the 1-seed and grabbing a bye week thanks to their sixth one-score victory in eight such games. And then the bracket broke perfectly. The two heavy AFC favorites will face off in the other matchup, the Patriots are out, and the Colts and Chargers didn’t even make it. Instead, the Titans get to face a similarly-average team for a shot at the AFC title game.”
Bengals Wire: Bengals are strong underdog bet vs. Titans
Chris Roling writes: “The Titans are a really good team. They rose above the scrap heap of an AFC to win 12 games while toughing it out without MVP-contending running back Derrick Henry for a key stretch. The defense is good and quarterback Ryan Tannehill manages games well. But the Bengals are, in a word, explosive right now. Joe Burrow threw for 525 yards and 446 yards in his last two regular season games, wins over Baltimore and Kansas City, before winning a playoff game. He’s got a jaw-dropping amount of weapons around him and the defense is playing perhaps its best ball of the year. Also worth a note — the four-win Bengals upset the Titans in 2020, 31-20. That happened in Cincinnati and the Titans are better this year, but so are the Bengals by…quite a huge margin. That’s a long way of saying the Bengals are a strong underdog bet this week and it’s safe to presume the line will see plenty of movement in the coming days.”
NFL playoff TV information: Divisional-round games
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cincinnati Bengals vs. Tennessee Titans picks, predictions NFL playoff