The point spread in the AFC championship game continues to move.
The Kansas City Chiefs opened as favorites, but the line swung quickly and drastically towards the Cincinnati Bengals.
Despite being the road team, the Bengals were favored by as many as 2.5 points on Wednesday. But now, as of Thursday morning, the odds have shifted back in the Chiefs’ direction.
The Chiefs are the favorites once again, listed at -1 and -115 on the moneyline at BetMGM. The Bengals are -105 on the moneyline and the total is 47.5, a point below the opener of 48.5.
According to BetMGM, most of the action has come in on the Cincinnati side. The Bengals have received 73% of the bets and 79% of the money on the point spread and 69% of the bets and 70% of the money on the moneyline.
The Bengals barely squeaked by the Baltimore Ravens in the wild card round before smoking the Buffalo Bills 27-10 on the road in the divisional round on Sunday. The Chiefs, meanwhile, had a first-round bye as the AFC’s No. 1 seed and then were able to get past the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-20 on Saturday.
In the Chiefs’ win, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain. He missed a significant chunk of the first half, but came back in for the second half despite being obviously hobbled by the injury.
After the game, there were lingering questions about the severity of Mahomes’ injury and bettors were quick to jump on the Bengals as underdogs. However, Mahomes was a full participant in practice on Wednesday and declared himself “ready to go” for Sunday’s showdown at Arrowhead Stadium.
It’s safe to guess that Mahomes’ status has resulted in some of the buy back on Kansas City. The line ticked down in the Chiefs’ favor throughout the day Wednesday until it finally flipped back to the Chiefs as slight favorites by Thursday morning.
The Bengals have beaten the Chiefs in three straight meetings — all by exactly three points. In each of those meetings, the Chiefs were favored. These teams met in last year’s AFC title game in Kansas City and the Bengals won 27-24 as 7-point underdogs. They played again back in December, this time in Cincinnati, and the Bengals won by the same score, 27-24.
Can Mahomes get the best of Joe Burrow and the Bengals this time?