The Pittsburgh Steelers’ upcoming game against the Baltimore Ravens is highly important for multiple reasons. But a win over the Ravens would make one thing very clear — the Steelers are legitimate contenders in the AFC and the favorite to win their first AFC North title since 2020 and just their second since 2017.
Craig Carton of FS1’s Breakfast Ball would go a step further. With a win, he thinks the Steelers would be sitting atop the entire conference.
“This is the game where they announce to everybody, ‘In case you haven’t seen it yet, hey, you gotta worry about us'” Carton said. “Never mind Kansas City, never mind Buffalo, never mind Baltimore. If the Steelers do what they’ve done a lot over the last five years against Baltimore, they could lay claim to the AFC runs through Pittsburgh.”
They wouldn’t be sitting in first place in the AFC with the Bills currently at 8-2 and the Chiefs at 9-0, but they would probably be the hottest team in the NFL coming off back-to-back victories against seven-win teams with two of the best dual-threat QBs in the league.
Dating back to the 2020 season, the Steelers are 7-1 against the Ravens. Lamar Jackson is 1-3 as a starter against the Steelers. He has missed several Steelers matchups due to injury, illness, or being rested in the final week of the season. In those four starts, he has 77 completions on 131 attempts for 858 yards, four touchdowns, and seven interceptions. If there is any team that has figured out the multi-time MVP, it is the Steelers.
The Ravens’ defense has also been struggling with the eighth-worst scoring defense at 25.3 points per game allowed and the dead-last passing defense with 294.9 yards allowed per game through the air.
I don’t think the masses will be fully bought into the AFC running through Pittsburgh even if the Steelers win on Sunday. But they won’t have to wait long to test themselves against the defending Super Bowl champions. The Chiefs come to town in a little over a month on Christmas Day.
