Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns was a gut punch for the Pittsburgh Steelers in many ways. It continued to expose long-apparent flaws in more transparent ways—always more damaging in a loss. More practically, it also robbed them of their opportunity to control their own divisional fate.
At least until now during any reasonable point in the season, the Steelers still maintained a certain degree of autonomy over what happens in the AFC North. If they were simply to win the rest of their games, regardless of what anybody else had done, they would have been the division champions.
Thanks to their loss to the Browns, that is no longer true. Sitting at 6-4, they are a full game behind 7-3 Cleveland, having split the season series against them, and a game and a half behind the 8-3 Baltimore Ravens.
At least with Baltimore, however, they still have authorship of how they stack up against them. The Ravens haven’t had their bye yet, but prior to this game, they had the same number of losses against the Steelers. Even with one more loss than Baltimore now, with a head-to-head win in hand, Pittsburgh could still finish ahead of the Ravens simply by winning out. They are already ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals at 5-5.
But now Cleveland has the most say in the division. If the Browns can sweep throughout the rest of the year, they will be AFC North champions—for the first time ever. Even if the Ravens also win out, the Browns would get the title by virtue of a superior conference record.
Granted, we need to have the conversation about how improbable that is. The Browns may have managed to beat the Steelers with rookie third-string QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson with an astounding 13 points, but how many games can they win as they did yesterday?
They still have to play the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars, though the rest of their remaining schedule isn’t quite as daunting and largely winnable. Up next are the improving Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Rams, with the Chicago Bears between Jacksonville and Houston. They also play the New York Jets, who may have QB Aaron Rodgers back by Dec. 28, before wrapping against a Bengals team also shackled to a backup.
It’s hard to imagine Cleveland’s model being sustainable without both QB Deshaun Watson and RB Nick Chubb, but perhaps its defense is just that good. The Browns have a genuine claim to be the best defensive unit in all of football right now, and arguably the best defense they’ve had in the past 25 years.
Chances are the Browns will lose and the Steelers will have the opportunity to gain ground again. But who can be confident Pittsburgh will be able to take advantage of that opportunity? This looks like a team with its fair share of losing ahead as well.
