A Look Around the AFC North: Where will the Steelers finish?
As the dust of the offseason settles, and we sit just eight days removed from the Steelers’ first game of the season, I figure now’s as good a time as any to take a trip around the division and speculate how the Steelers might fare against the competition. At first glance, there’s a clear favorite to win the division, so let’s start there, in Baltimore.
Baltimore Ravens
The back-to-back division champion Baltimore Ravens come into the 2025 season, yet again, boasting massive Super Bowl expectations. At the time of this writing, they are the favorites to win the Super Bowl at +700 on Fan Duel. I must give credit to their GM Eric DeCosta for putting together another solid offseason featuring additions like CBs Chidobe Awuzie and Jaire Alexander, WR DeAndre Hopkins, and S Malaki Starks. They, along with the Steelers imo, boast one of the best secondaries in the league on paper, although we’ll see if Jaire can stay healthy. They’re returning one of the best rushing attacks in the history of the league with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson, although their offensive line continues to be a bit of an unknown. It kinda feels like they’re running it back, just with a better defense and D-Hop instead of OBJ.
Having taken all of that into consideration, I do think the Ravens will three-peat as AFC North Champions barring catastrophic injury or a colossal meltdown. They’ll likely open the season as favorites in all 17 of their games, and rightfully so. They’re a dangerous team for sure, and they spanked us badly in the wild card round last season, so I don’t want to come off as a hater right now, but I’m going to: why should I buy in this year? They’re just as scary as they were coming into last season, but we split with them last season (as we usually do if not sweep them). I’m all in on them to win 12 games and win the division, but I wouldn’t go into a wild card game against them this season feeling like that was the worst-case scenario.
Cincinnati Bengals
I’m just going to lead this soliloquy by saying that I’m not sold on the 2025 Cincinnati Bengals. The big news surrounding them has been the fact that they were able to pay all three of their big stars that were seeking contracts: Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson. Their most notable offseason additions include DE Shemar Stewart, LB Demetrius Knight Jr., and TE Noah Fant. We’ll see how those rookies pan out, but outside of that, they’re kinda just running it back with what they had last year. If you’re a Bengals fan and you’re comfortable with that, then more power to ya.
The problem with this team is that they are SO tremendously top heavy, and their payroll really reflects that. Their stars shine bright enough that if they get a couple of lucky bounces, they can win 11 games and find themselves securely in the playoffs. However, I have no faith in their offensive line, and this is still a bottom 10 defense in the league even with a healthier secondary. Realistically, they’re probably an 8-9 win team and they’ll be revisiting the same exact issues next offseason imo. But, they still have Joe Burrow, who I think is a master processor and in the running for the best quarterback in football, so you never know.
Cleveland Browns
I know we all laugh at the Browns…it’s so easy at this point…but if you're a Browns fan, you can’t be THAT upset with how Andrew Berry has handled this offseason. They’ve taken dart throws at a lot of guys that, at least at one point, were highly sought after: QBs like Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, RBs like Dylan Sampson and Quinshon Judkins, and WR Isaiah Bond. Yinz can be the judge of how that has panned out, but we gotta credit their GM for trying. They also talked Myles Garrett into staying and drafted Mason Graham to shore up the trenches. The only loss that feels “notable” to me is that of WR Diontae Johnson, which is probably addition by subtraction at this point.
No doubt, the Browns are the worst team in the AFC North and I’d bet the house that they’ll finish last in the division (barring a Joe Burrow injury). Having said that, I don’t think teams are just going to bulldoze them. I think they could be a few lucky bounces away from having a similar record to the Bengals.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The enigma of the division, at least for this season.
The Steelers are, without a doubt, the most different team between last season and this one within the AFC North. Yinz know the notable additions, but for continuity purposes: CBs like Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay and Brandin Echols, DLs like Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black, WR DK Metcalf, TE Jonnu Smith, and QB Aaron Rodgers. Guys lost in this process include WR George Pickens, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, OG James Daniels, RB Najee Harris, QBs Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, among others. So, when I say different, I mean DIFFERENT.
Having had an ear to the ground this whole offseason, I’m much more optimistic about the trajectory of this team than I am about, say, the Bengals. In fact, I think the Steelers are the sneaky scary AFC team that a lot of media folks think the Bengals are. But, I don’t follow the Bengals that closely so maybe there’s things there that I’m missing. Also, and most importantly, as optimistic as I am about the Steelers, there’s still a TON of unknowns surrounding this team. We’ve hardly seen our starters play any football together. The chance exists that this thing gets off to a rocky start. Still, I think you can absolutely BOOK us for 9 wins, most likely 10 wins, semi-likely 11 wins. If you were looking for a hot take in this post, here it is: I think the Steelers are ABSOLUTELY the second best team in this division, and I don’t feel like the Bengals are particularly close behind them. The Steelers will be competitive and we’ve still been able to leverage the future. Impressive stuff by Omar Khan imo.
In case you weren’t keeping score:
Baltimore Ravens: 12-13 wins + AFC North Champs
Pittsburgh Steelers: 10-11 wins + Wild Card Team
Cincinnati Bengals: 8-10 wins + missing playoffs
Cleveland Browns: 7-8 wins
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