It might be a bye week but we’re still bringing you stats of the weird. How about this one? As pointed out by one of our Steelers Depot readers, a big tip of the hat for that, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, the team who occupy first and last place of the AFC North heading into Week Six, have identical point differentials. And they aren’t pretty.
The Steelers and Bengals each have -31 point differentials on the season. Yet one sits in first place, the other in last.
Fun fact. Pittsburgh is the only team in the NFL to lead their division despite a negative differential. The next closest are the +16 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 1-4 Arizona Cardinals have a better differential than the first place Steelers. The Chicago Bears are hardly any worse at -42.
Pittsburgh has somehow entered their bye week at 3-2 despite two blowout losses and 2.5 ugly wins (Week Three’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders was about as comfortable as it’s going to get). But it’s fair to wonder how sustainable their model is. A handful of splash plays on offense and defense with a lot of garbage sandwiched in-between. Still, with all they’ve been through, you’ll take their record and positioning in the AFC North. If they can win four games in the division, they went 3-3 a year ago, they’re going to remain in contention for the division crown until the very end.
The Bengals got off to an even worse start, in large part due to the limiting calf injury of QB Joe Burrow. They finally came alive in Week Five, Burrow tossing all three of his touchdowns to star WR Ja’Marr Chase in a 34-20 win over the Cardinals. No, the Cardinals aren’t making the playoffs this year but they’re a scrappy and slightly-better-than-expected bunch than those in the media figured they’d be. More importantly, Burrow looked healthy and mobile, a sign the Bengals’ season is truly beginning.
The only two teams in the North with positive point differentials are the second and third place teams, the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns. The Ravens are wondering how they lost to the Steelers despite having several opportunities to blow the game open early or win late. Dropped passes and miscues cost them at least 20 points in this game. The Browns still don’t know who they are. Their defense looks incredible but their offense has lost its run game the moment RB Nick Chubb was out for the year while there’s serious questions about QB Deshaun Watson, who will miss Week Six and hasn’t played since Week Four for a bruise on his arm that wasn’t expected to be this serious. There may be some regret about the franchise backing up the money truck and harming their reputation by trading for him.
It’s still a division up for grabs. All four teams entered the year convinced they could win the North. Well over a quarter into the season those same arguments remain. When the schedule came out, it was pretty clear the Steelers would be playing an important Week 18 game on the road against Baltimore. That contest could decide the division.
I’d like to say the Steelers have to have a positive point differential to win the division. That’s only ever happened to them once before in 1947 when they finished 8-4 in the NFL East Division at a -19 PD, the team’s first playoff appearance and only one until The Immaculate Reception in 1972. But two teams in the NFL last season finished in the red and came in first place. The 8-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at -45 (given their losing record, this one isn’t a shocker) and the 13-4 Minnesota Vikings at -4. Only the Vikings. And maybe the Steelers. It could be that kind of year.
