At least one NFL community doesn’t like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ odds of winning the AFC North. An NFL.com panel voted on 2024 division winners. Despite a division with four talented teams in what should be a close race, the Steelers received only one of 28 votes to take home the AFC North crown.
Here’s how the voting broke down.
1. Baltimore Ravens – 15 votes
2. Cincinnati Bengals – 11 votes
3. Cleveland Browns – 1 vote
4. Pittsburgh Steelers – 1 vote
Michelle Magdziuk was the lone Steelers supporter.
While it’s easy to take the voting in disrespectful fashion, the Ravens have earned the right to be the division favorite. Despite being gutted on defense and among their coaching staff this offseason, they still have two-time MVP Lamar Jackson and solid offense, defense, and special teams units. They’re a team that has won double-digit games in five of the last six seasons, the only exception coming in 2021 when Jackson was injured late in the year. Comparatively, the Steelers have reached that mark only twice (2020 and 2023), and as the NFL.com article notes, the AFC North winner has cracked at least 10 wins in every year since realignment in 2002.
The Steelers are angling to win their first division crown since 2020. While a three-year drought is short for some teams, including the Browns who haven’t won it since 1989, extending things to four years would make it the Steelers’ longest division winless streak since a seven-year stretch from 1985-1991.
Determining Pittsburgh’s finish in the standings will revolve around the final eight games. Six of those games come against the AFC North, including a stretch of four-straight games within the division. The only two exceptions are hardly reprieves, on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles and hosting the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. The good news is Pittsburgh has been wildly successful against the AFC North. But that history will be tested by a brutally stacked schedule.
Beyond missing the division crown, the panel showed almost no faith in Pittsburgh making the playoffs. Of all the votes cast for the three Wild Card teams, the Steelers received just one vote, Ali Bhanpuri picking them as the seventh seed. Combine that with their one divisional win vote and only two of the 28 voters believe Pittsburgh will make the postseason. Their path will be difficult, and the Steelers have much to prove but those doubts seem to be far too strong for a team that has little trouble making the playoffs, even if it has difficulty getting past the first round.
