Football expert Phil Steele is the owner and publisher of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, regarded as the college football bible. Get in-depth coverage of college and pro football 24/7/365 at PhilSteele.com and follow him on Twitter @philsteele042.
LIONS (-2¹/₂) over Bengals: Detroit has won both of its home games while Cincinnati is 1-2 on the road, only beating a Buffalo team by three points that was using a quarterback who was on the practice squad the previous week. Comparing common foes also favors the Lions as they beat both Chicago and Cleveland by a combined 22 points while the Bengals lost to both teams by a combined 14 points. Cincinnati also must travel for a second straight week and for a third time in its last four. Detroit has registered six sacks in its two games in the dome while Cincinnati has allowed 13 sacks in the last four.
REDSKINS (Pick) over Bears: Chicago is on the road, but has a better record at 4-2, while Washington is 1-4. That gives us value with the Redskins as they are plus-4 yards per game on the season playing the No. 14 schedule while the Bears are minus-4 yards per game versus the No. 18 schedule. Chicago has beaten all four teams with offenses ranked outside the top 12 but has lost to the No. 5 and No. 9 offenses and faces the best offense to date (No. 4 Washington).
LAST WEEK (NFL): 1-1. SEASON: 5-7.