Why did point spread make dramatic overnight shift in Rams-Bengals game?

Next week’s Monday Night Football showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and Bengals opened with Cincinnati as 7.5-point favorites, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. As of Monday morning, less than 24 hours later, the Bengals are only 2-point favorites.

Vegas can only know so much, they could just be hedging against a potential huge announcement in the coming days, a lot of bets could be coming in on the Rams, but is this a sign that Joe Burrow will soon be ruled out for the 0-2 Bengals?

Because 5.5 points is a hell of a lot of points.

Going into Week 1, the Bengals were considered to be one of the top-three AFC favorites to win the Super Bowl and the Rams were coming off of a 5-12 season with almost an entirely new roster, relatively speaking. A lot has changed in the last 14 days.

The two teams started with Cincinnati as 0-1 and Los Angeles as 1-0, but one game is only one game.

Then the Bengals lost in Week 2 to the Baltimore Ravens and Burrow limped off the field, favoring a calf that was seriously injured at the start of training camp. There has to be concern in Cincinnati that he won’t be available on Monday night when the Bengals try to win their first game of the season, going against a Rams team that would desperately love to shock the world by starting 2-1 with wins over two 2022 playoff teams.

Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning made his NFL debut in Week 1, not because of Burrow’s injury but because the Bengals were being blown out by the Cleveland Browns. Cincinnati also has former third round pick Will Grier on the practice squad.