The AFC North is once again set to be the best division in football. Over the last 10 seasons, the AFC North leads the NFL in win-loss percentage with a 339-306-6 record for a .644 win percentage. It became the first division in 88 years to have every team above .500 in 2023 and had by far the best combined win percentage of the eight NFL divisions last year. That stat is made more impressive by the fact that three of the AFC North’s starting quarterbacks had injuries that effectively ended their seasons. Three of the four teams made the playoffs, and the Cincinnati Bengals were not far out of the playoff picture.
FS1’s Craig Carton made his division predictions for the 2024 season on Tuesday morning’s episode of The Carton Show and made a pretty wild claim.
“First time in the history of football, every team in a division is going to make the playoffs. The Ravens, the Bengals, the Browns all make the playoffs. That division gets four teams in,” Carton said. “Meaning [Jim] Harbaugh outta the playoffs, Titans rebuilt team outta the playoffs, Dolphins outta the playoffs, Bills outta the playoffs. And you get the AFC North racking it up with all four teams.”
This would be raising the bar from an already impressive 2023 season for the AFC North and making history in the process. The math gets very tricky to get all four teams in as they play a collective 12 games among themselves. The division would have to cannibalize itself to a certain extent with each team having a roughly even 3-3 record in the division to make this likely to happen. This feat has only been possible since 2020 when the NFL expanded the playoff format to seven teams in each conference.
Last season, the Steelers went 5-1 against divisional opponents, which is rather impressive given that it was the first division with every team over .500 in 88 years. Carton has the Steelers winning the division for the first time since 2020.
“I think there’s a new sheriff in town this year,” Carton said. “Your Pittsburgh Steelers win the division with Russell Wilson.”
There is a reason for every AFC North team to be optimistic this season. The Bengals have won the division every year that Joe Burrow has been healthy since he entered the league, and they beefed up their offensive line in a big way. The Browns will be returning their franchise QB in Deshaun Watson and added a key weapon for him in WR Jerry Jeudy via trade. The Ravens were already the top dog in the division and added Derrick Henry to make their ground-and-pound offense even more of a threat.
The Steelers have a chance to be an almost unrecognizable team from 2023, especially on the offensive side of the ball. New quarterbacks, new offensive line, and a new offensive coordinator. It should be another highly competitive year in the AFC North, and it feels like any team is capable of winning the crown this year.
