If you read off the current standings to a Steeler fan before the season began, they’d have no complaints for you. The Steelers lead the AFC North at 3-1, just ahead of the 2-3 Bengals. Cincinnati’s not in good shape, losers of three straight and now employing Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback.
However, things are even worse for the Ravens and Browns. The former were expected to win the division, and still are by some, but now sit at 1-4 while Lamar Jackson continues to deal with an injury. Cleveland shares the same record, and they would need to beat the Steelers this week to have any shot. At this point, former NFL scout John Middlekauff thinks the race is already done.
“The division, I think, is over,” Middlekauff said Wednesday on his 3 & Out podcast. “If the Ravens lose this week and they’re 1-5, they would have 11 games left. To get to 10 wins, they would have to go 9-2. To get to nine wins, they would have to go 8-3. They’re not doing that. The Browns and the Bengals stink. Like, you guys [Steelers] are kind of in the driver’s seat… I think the Steelers are winning this division at like 10-7.”
The start to the year has by no means been perfect for the Steelers. Throughout their first three games, they struggled to stop the run, had too many miscommunications against the pass, and couldn’t run the ball themselves. Yet, as Mike Tomlin-led teams tend to do, they managed to add to the win column anyway. It took a late drive and a 60-yard field goal to win their first game, and the defense had to force a couple of goal-line turnovers to beat New England.
That’s enough to give the Steelers some serious comfort over the rest of the AFC North. The Ravens were expected to be their biggest threat. If they can’t beat the Rams this week, likely without Jackson, they’ll fall to 1-5. In that scenario, if Pittsburgh were to win its next two games, that’d be four games above Baltimore after Week 7. That’s an extremely hard hole to climb out of, even with two matchups against Pittsburgh remaining. And the Steelers’ wins over the Browns and Bengals would also add a cushion over those two.
Of course, there are a lot of ifs. There’s a lot of football still ahead, and Pittsburgh has lost trap games to divisional opponents before. Yet, it’s hard to be anything but optimistic about the Steelers’ chances in the AFC North. They seem to be coming together when the rest of the division is falling apart.
