People tend to forget that the history of the AFC North is brief, relatively speaking. It did not exist prior to the divisional realignment of 2002, the purpose of which was to create four four-team divisions in each conference to accommodate for the recent Houston Texans expansion team and the renewed Cleveland Browns franchise.
Thus, there have only been 21 AFC North champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers wearing the crown nine times, including the first in 2002. Their most recent was in 2020, with the Cincinnati Bengals the two-time consecutive reigning champions.
Interestingly, even though they’ve won it nine times, the Steelers have only repeated as division champions in back-to-back years two times: in 2007-08, the beginning of Mike Tomlin’s tenure as the team’s head coach, and then again in 2016-17.
The Ravens repeated twice as well in 2011-12 and 2018-19. The Bengals repeated for the first time over the past two seasons. And they have a good shot at becoming the first team to win the AFC North in three consecutive seasons.
Having gone 22-11 over the past two seasons, the Bengals are currently viewed as one of the top teams in the NFL along with the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, and the Philadelphia Eagles. They have consistently been given the best odds this offseason of claiming the division title at the end of the 2023 season.
But it won’t be easy to three-peat by any means. This year figures to be one of the toughest year in the history of the division, with everybody in the AFC North expected to be competitive. The Ravens have stabilized after recent injury issues while the Steelers are on the upswing, particularly offensively. For the Browns, they will have Deshaun Watson under center for a full season for the first time.
With that being said, it probably wouldn’t be accurate to say that the division is “wide open” or anything like that. I think the money will continue to favor Cincinnati winning until proven otherwise, though as we’ve seen, Steelers fans have been willing to back their team and put their money where their proverbial mouths are.
The Bengals have already been making history under this regime. Their five playoff victories over the past two seasons match their postseason win total combined throughout their history up to that point, breaking a decades-long winless streak. They had only reached the conference finals twice previously and have now done it two years running.
How reasonable is it to project that they will continue to push their luck? After all, even an organization as consistent and stable as the Steelers hasn’t yet managed to win the division three years in a row. Is this current Bengals team really that good?
