At the conclusion of Saturday night’s 19-17 win for the Cincinnati Bengals over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2024 season in the AFC North came to a close.
As was known entering the Saturday night kickoff between the Bengals and Steelers at Acrisure Stadium, the Baltimore Ravens emerged victorious in the AFC North division title race, thanks to a blowout win over the Cleveland Browns.
But how did the AFC North shake out in general with all regular season games done within the division? Here’s how the final standings look in the division.
AFC NORTH STANDINGS (FINAL)
1. Baltimore Ravens: 12-5
2. Pittsburgh Steelers: 10-7
3. Cincinnati Bengals: 9-8
4. Cleveland Browns: 3-14
Just a few weeks ago, the Steelers — who looked like legitimate Super Bowl contenders — went from having a two-game lead in the AFC North and in the clear driver’s seat entering December, to completely collapsing, blowing a two-game lead and finishing two games behind the Ravens.
The wheels completely fell off for the Steelers in rather ugly, disappointing fashion. Entering December at 8-3, the Steelers reeled off two big wins, winning a shootout over the Bengals on Dec. 1 and then beating the Browns at Acrisure Stadium to get to 10-3. But after that, the bottom fell out for the Black and Gold.
Entering a pivotal three games in 11 days stretch for the Steelers, Pittsburgh proceeded to drop the three games to the Philadelphia Eagles, Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs, before then dropping the regular season finale to the Bengals at Acrisure Stadium Saturday night, entering the playoffs on a four-game losing streak, doing something that hasn’t been done since the 1986 New York Jets.
Things are tough.
While the Steelers were falling apart, the Ravens were getting back on track, reeling off four straight wins in December to shake off a rough start to the season and climb all the way back to win the division in impressive fashion. Now, the Ravens enter the playoffs looking like a Super Bowl contender once again with likely the league’s MVP in QB Lamar Jackson playing at an absurd level once again.
The Bengals also got red-hot after the Steelers’ shootout win on Dec. 1, winning five straight games down the stretch to put themselves in position to potentially get into the playoffs while needing some outside help in the AFC.
Then, there’s the Browns, who were a bad team all year, got a small boost from a Week 12 win on Thursday Night Football over the Steelers, and then never won another game to close the season, starting three different quarterbacks in the final month of the season, leading to them firing offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey Sunday morning.
Now, the Browns hold the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, according to Tankathon.com, putting them in a familiar spot once again.
Coming into the year, the Steelers were picked last in the AFC North, and the Browns were considered a real contender. Funny how things play out when the games are actually played.
