NFL Playoffs: Beware These Championship Underdogs
Will we have upsets in Bengals-Chiefs or Eagles-49ers?
Matthew Horner - Jan 27, 2023, 12:20pm EST
NFL Playoffs: Beware These Championship Underdogs
Welcome to today's special edition of Underdogs of the Day, where we'll take a look at the underdogs in this weekend's conference championship games to see if the underdogs could be valuable.
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Bengals +106 (FanDuel) at Chiefs
We'll start in Kansas City, where the Cincinnati Bengals find themselves once again facing the Chiefs in the AFC championship game. This is the exact same matchup as last year's championship contest in the exact same venue, where we saw Joe Burrow and the Bengals beat the Chiefs on their home turf to advance to the Super Bowl.
We've already seen this line move back and forth this week, as Kansas City opened as a -1 favorite, but that quickly got bet the other way until the Bengals became a -1 favorite. Now, we are back to seeing the Chiefs be a favorite again. I don't think anyone really knows who should be the favorite in this game, and it's virtually a dead heat. However, we have learned that Burrow is not to be doubted. The Bengals are underdogs quite often, and that's where they thrive as a team. The time you don't want to bet on them is when they are a huge favorite, and we saw that in the wild-card game against the Ravens that they could have lost if not for Cincy's fluky 99-yard goal-line fumble return for a TD.
It's not much plus-money, but you don't have to lay money to take them here as the 'dog. Personally, I think the Chiefs will win this game, but it will be close. One of my favorite bets of the week is teasing the underdog up in this game and the NFC championship. I see both games being close and I think neither is more than a TD win. Still, it's a toss-up, and taking the plus-money with a good team isn't the worst idea.
49ers +130 (PointsBet) at Eagles
The story of 49ers QB Brock Purdy is pretty incredible, almost Brady-esqe, but now he has to face the NFC's No. 1 seed in the Philadelphia Eagles on their home turf in the NFC championship. This will be the greatest challenge he has ever faced in his career certainly, but at every step on the journey, he has proven that he is up to the challenge. No one would have expected this at the beginning of the season, but that's what makes sports so great. Instead of Trey Lance or even Jimmy Garoppolo getting the start in this game, it's the guy who was drafted with the last pick in the entire draft. It just goes to show that you never know who will thrive in this league, and every draft pick is valuable because you could be selecting the next best thing.
Besides the story of Purdy, the 49ers have certainly helped him out a lot with the amount of talent that they have accumulated on their roster over the years. Having weapons like Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, and a great offensive line can really help you grow as a professional QB. The defense is also absolutely loaded with talent and has been one of the best units in football this season. When you take all of that and put it together with an offensive head coach like Kyle Shanahan that can get the most out of his young QB, you have a team that is extremely dangerous.
It seems like the 49ers and Bengals are the two teams that no one wants to face right now. Getting +130 here with the Niners is pretty good value, and you know the NFL would love to see the last pick in the draft play QB in the biggest game in American sports.
MORE: STAFF PICKS | 49ERS-EAGLES PROPS | BENGALS-CHIEFS PROPS
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