The Pittsburgh Steelers play in the AFC North, one of the toughest divisions in all of football. The division is built on teams playing hard-nosed, cold-weather football. As a former Steeler, Bryant McFadden knows just how intense things can get with the Steelers and their AFC North rivals. McFadden spoke about it on the Ed Block CourageCast on Wednesday.
“The thing about AFC North football, all four teams hate each other,” McFadden said. “It’s a toss-up between the two. We [Steelers] really, really, really hate Cleveland and Cincinnati. We really, really, really hate Baltimore. But the hate for Baltimore is a little different ’cause there’s a mutual respect. Because of the similarities and how the organizations have been, hard work and play great defense.”
Obviously, as with any division across the league, there’s a mutual level of hatred among the four teams. However, McFadden’s words here go to show just how dominant the Ravens and Steelers have been over the past couple of decades.
Since 2000, a team besides the Ravens or Steelers has only won their shared division (AFC North/AFC Central) six times. All of those have been won by the Bengals. Most recently, they won the division in back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022 but have struggled to find that same form in the past couple of years. The Browns haven’t even been in the conversation recently, with their last division championship coming all the way back in 1989.
Really, McFadden’s point about the similarities between the two franchises is interesting. McFadden played for the Steelers from 2005-2008 and then again from 2010-2011. Back then, the Steelers and Ravens were essentially running the division. It’s interesting to see how little that has changed compared to now.
Those similarities are what makes the rivalry so special, though. Both organizations have the two longest-tenured head coaches in the league by a wide margin in Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. Each prioritize defense and have had dominant defenses for the last couple of decades. Unfortunately for both sides, the lack of playoff success has been prevalent in recent years as well. Yet, as the two most competitive teams of all AFC North rivals in recent years, there’s another level of animosity between the two sides.
Looking forward to 2025, the rivalry should be competitive as it always is. The Steelers have had the Ravens’ number in recent years. That started to change last year, though, after Pittsburgh was dominated by Baltimore near the end of the regular season and again in the AFC Wild Card Round. The Steelers will hope Aaron Rodgers can come to town and give Baltimore a bigger challenge. If history has taught us anything, it’s that these two franchises will be at the top of the division once again.
