The Cincinnati Bengals (4-10) and Miami Dolphins (6-8) meet in NFL Week 16 on Sunday, Dec. 21. Kickoff is set for in 1:00 p.m. ET from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The game will be broadcast live on CBS.
The Bengals are 4-point favorites on the spread (Bengals -4), with the over/under set at 47.5 points. The Bengals are -220 favorites on the moneyline; the Dolphins are +180 home underdogs.
Let's get into my Week 16 preview and Bengals vs Dolphins prediction for today's game.
Bengals vs Dolphins Prediction
- Bengals vs Dolphins picks: Darren Waller Anytime TD; Quinn Ewers Passing Yards Over
My Bengals vs Dolphins best bets are on Darren Waller to score a touchdown and Quinn Ewers to go over 179.5 passing yards. Find the best odds by checking our live NFL odds page.
Bengals vs Dolphins Odds
| Bengals Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-4 -110 | 47.5 -110o / -110u | -220 |
| Dolphins Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+4 -110 | 47.5 -110o / -110u | +180 |
Bengals vs Dolphins NFL Week 16 Preview
Bengals Betting Preview: Another Lost Season
Joe Burrow returned from injury with a bang on Thanksgiving, leading the Bengals to a blowout upset victory over the Ravens — it's been downhill for Cincinnati since.
The Bengals have dropped two straight games and are eliminated from the NFL playoff race. They dropped a winnable game to the Bills and then got shut out by the Ravens in Week 15. Despite the playoffs being out of the picture, the Bengals have no plans on benching Burrow for the final three games.
The big name on their injury report for this game is WR Tee Higgins, who was sidelined last week while dealing with another concussion.
Dolphins Betting Preview: Tua Out; Ewers In
Following an ugly loss to the Steelers on Monday Night Football, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel pulled the plug on Tua Tagovailoa and announced Quinn Ewers would get the start against the Bengals.
Ewers, a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, made an appearance against the Browns back in October, going 5-for-8 for 53 yards. The Texas product didn't exactly impress in the preseason, either, completing 23-of-43 pass attempts for 273 yards and two touchdowns.
However, the matchup today is about as soft as it can be for Ewers — the Bengals are last in the NFL in points and yards allowed.
There are also no major offensive names on the Dolphins' injury report, so Ewers will have the full arsenal of weapons to work with in De'Von Achane, Jaylen Waddle and Darren Waller.
Bengals vs Dolphins Prediction, Betting Analysis
While the Dolphins as a team didn't look great against the Steelers, Darren Waller had himself a night, catching 7-of-8 targets for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Notably, he had a high snap rate of 54%.
Today, he gets a matchup against a historically bad defense against the tight end position in the Bengals, who have allowed six more TDs to TEs than the next-closest team this season, along with 300 more receiving yards.
We don't know how Quinn Ewers will play, but the total is decent for this game, and the Dolphins are 4-point underdogs, so we can expect him to throw a decent amount. I have the true anytime touchdown odds on Waller under +300.
Sticking with Ewers, while there are a lot of unknowns with him, I think his line for passing yards is too low at 179.5.
He likely isn't much worse than Tua Tagovailoa, and this matchup is incredible. The Bengals rank near the bottom of the league in nearly every single defensive metric. They've been better in recent weeks, but the Dolphins have several offensive weapons in the receiving game — Darren Waller, De'Von Achane, and Jaylen Waddle — so Ewers should be able to put up some yards.
I have Ewers projected for more than 200 yards.
Picks:
- Darren Waller Anytime Touchdown Scorer (+350; Hard Rock)
- Quinn Ewers Over 179.5 Passing Yards (-114; FanDuel)
Spread
I have no pick for either side of the spread in this game.
Moneyline
I'm also passing on any moneyline bets.
Over/Under
I have no bet for the game total.
