The AFC North is the undisputed best division in football through the midpoint of the 2023 season.
If this season ended in this moment, all four teams would qualify for the playoffs. The 7-2 Ravens would be the No. 2 seed as division champion, while the Steelers, Browns, and Bengals would occupy the Nos. 5, 6, and 7 seeds, respectively, with their equal 5-3 records.
Currently, the Steelers are 2-0 against division foes with wins over Cleveland in Week 2 and Baltimore in Week 5. The Steelers still have to face the Browns once more (Nov. 19 in Cleveland) and the Bengals twice (Nov. 26 in Cincinnati and Dec. 23 in Pittsburgh), and their final matchup with the Ravens in Baltimore closes the regular season in Week 18 at a time and date to be determined.
It is the only division in the NFL without a losing record whereas six out of eight divisions have at least two teams with losing records. The AFC East contains the Dolphins (6-3), Jets (4-3 entering Monday Night Football), and Bills (5-4) as the only other division in the NFL with at least three winning records.
The AFC North is king. There is no other division like this one.
"It's a very competitive division, but at the end of the day as a competitor you wouldn't want it any other way," Allen Robinson said Monday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "That's what brings the best out of everybody. When you have a close race like this, when teams are close in records and things like that, every single game counts. You have to be locked in each and every week. You can't pick and choose when you want to play or when you don't. You've got to line up each and every week and you've got to execute."
This division is sure to separate itself by season's end ... but it also might not.
The Steelers are the only AFC North team with a perfect record within the division through nine weeks. The Ravens are 2-1 with a win over each of the Bengals and Browns and a loss to the Steelers. The Browns are 1-2 with a win over the Bengals and losses to the Steelers and Ravens. The Bengals are 0-2 with a loss to each of the Browns and Ravens. Perhaps some of that separation begins over the next three weeks. The Ravens host the Browns Sunday and the Bengals on Nov. 16, the Steelers visit the Browns Nov. 16, and the Steelers play at the Bengals Nov. 26.
With the AFC playoff picture as jumbled as it currently is, those wins within the division are paramount. The top tie breaker to decide postseason spots is the head-to-head record, and the second prioritized tie breaker is that division record. The Steelers won their two home division games to date and have to sustain three more on the road and one remaining home one to earn that ever-important tie breaker over their division rivals.
"Obviously I'm new to it all, but watching from afar and now close, this AFC North that we're in is extremely competitive," Isaac Seumalo told me. "Clearly with our games everything comes down to the wire. I think if we, offensively, can continue to built upon Thursday and past games, because I think our defense is playing lights out and special teams has been solid, we've just got to keep the grind."
The AFC is dog-eat-dog itself. Just look to the Steelers' bye in Week 6. The Browns, Ravens, and Bengals all won, and every AFC team that played an NFC team also won.
The AFC North went 4-0 this past weekend. The Steelers beat the Titans Thursday, the Browns shut out the Cardinals, the Ravens destroyed the Seahawks, and the Bengals hung on to beat the Bills on Sunday Night Football.
"Overall it's a great division," Damontae Kazee said. "It's a hard-working division. I used to call it 'bully ball' when I was playing with Atlanta and (Dallas). At the end of the day we're still going to have to compete. ... It's football. It's competition. At the end of the day we've got competition. What's ahead of us is what's ahead of us and we've got to deal with it at the end of the day. Can't run from it, can't hide from it."
As for the rest of the AFC, the 4-3 Jets occupy the No. 8 seed headed into Monday night's matchup at the 3-4 Chargers. The 5-4 Bills are the No. 9 seed, the 4-4 Texans are 10th, and the 4-5 Colts are 11th. The Steelers lost to the Texans and face the Colts Dec. 17 in Indianapolis.
Aside from the Colts matchup, the home Dec. 7 game against the Patriots is the only other AFC opponent the Steelers will oppose outside of the AFC North for the remainder of the season.
"We already know how this division is," Kazee said. "At the end of the day we're not worrying about the division right now. We're worrying about one game at a time. This week we've got to beat Green Bay. Until we play those teams we've got to lock in."
