At 3-1, the Pittsburgh Steelers are sitting pretty. Not only are they first in the AFC North, but they seem to be in a much better position than the rest of the group. The Bengals are 2-3 and are without their starting quarterback. The Browns, at 1-4, seem to be clearly out of the picture. The team thought to be the Steelers’ biggest competition, the Ravens, have stumbled to a 1-4 record. Things are even more bleak in Baltimore, considering the injuries ravaging the unit.
Despite that, many still see the Ravens as the favorite to win the AFC North. The Steelers have two more wins and three fewer losses, yet aren’t the favorites to win the division in the eyes of the oddsmakers. Part of the reason for that, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, is that the Steelers don’t feel like a team capable of running away with the division.
“You’re talking about chasing down Pittsburgh, as the only team,” Schefter said Tuesday on Unsportsmanlike. “And Pittsburgh, in recent years, has struggled down the stretch for whatever reason. And Pittsburgh, in my mind, is a good team. But I don’t see them being one of these 14-3 teams that just runs away with the division… I could see them [Ravens] making a push in the second half to challenge for that division. And if it’s not too great a deficit, yeah, I think they’ll have a chance to win it.”
With their next two games against struggling teams in the Browns and Bengals, Pittsburgh has an excellent chance to jump to 5-1. If they do, they’ll be in a great spot against Baltimore. The Ravens have a Week 7 bye, so if the Steelers win their next two, they’d lead the division by at least three games.
That said, there’s still plenty of football to be played. And since the Steelers and Ravens have yet to face each other, the opportunity is there for Baltimore. If they win both matchups, that erases two games off the lead. Then, they’d need to be just one game better than the Steelers to tie, considering they would own the tiebreaker.
Given the gauntlet Pittsburgh has at the end of the season, that’s worrisome. Pittsburgh still plays the 4-1 Colts, the 3-2 Chargers, the 4-1 Bills, and the 4-1 Lions.
The first matchup between these two teams comes in Week 14. If the Steelers maintain a three-game lead but lose that matchup, the lead drops to two games. But the real kicker is that these two play each other in Week 18 as well. Thus, Baltimore would need to be one game better down the stretch. If they are, it sets up a season-ending, division-deciding game.
Of course, these are plenty of ifs. We have no idea how the rest of the year will go. Right now, it doesn’t look great for Baltimore. What we do know is that the Steelers already control their own destiny. If they continue to win games, they’ll be just fine.
