The Cincinnati Bengals are now favored vs. the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game amid historic line movements over the last 24 hours.
The Bengals are now -2.5 favorites (-110) over the Chiefs at various sportsbooks, including DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, BetRivers and more.
That's after opening as +1.5 underdogs.
This change has occurred on account of sharp action — especially amid worsening sentiment surrounding the severity of Patrick Mahomes' ankle injury.
Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain during the first quarter of the Chiefs' divisional win over the Jaguars. The 2022 MVP favorite sat out a portion of the second quarter and returned after halftime — but was visibly hobbled with diminished arm strength and accuracy.
"The global market movement is a combination of Bengals money along with continued and escalating reaction to Mahomes' injury," PointsBet spokesperson Patrick Eichner told the Action Network on Tuesday.
The Bengals have about 80% of the total handle on them to win and cover at PointsBet.
At BetMGM, the figures are about the same at 70-80% of the total money. A spokesperson told the Action Network that the sportsbook has moved its market for the same reasons PointsBet provided.
That four-point swing from Bengals +1.5 to Bengals -2.5 is the fourth-most for a playoff game over the last 20 seasons.
Only nine postseason games overall have seen an underdog at open turn into a favorite.
The team that opened as an underdog before steaming its way to being a favorite has been 4-5 straight up and 3-6 against the spread since 2003.
Since 2010? That type of team is 1-5 straight up and ATS.
The only win came from the 2014 Patriots — which beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX on one of the craziest goal line plays of all-time.
The Bengals at -2.5 would be the biggest road favorite in a championship round game since the 2018 Vikings, who were -3 favorites after winning the Minneapolis Miracle for a date in Philadelphia against the Eagles.
Philly had lost MVP frontrunner Carson Wentz to a torn ACL a few weeks prior.
Nick Foles and company took care of business against the Vikings 38-7 en route to a Super Bowl victory over the Patriots.
As far as the Bengals' moneyline is concerned, that has shifted from open at roughly +100 to its current market-worst price of -148.
There have only been six instances over the last 20 seasons that have seen a championship round team move 50 cents or more during that round.
