The four teams that make up one of the toughest divisions in all of football, the AFC North, met on the gridiron for a Saturday doubleheader in the regular-season finale in Week 18. The outcome was a division crown for the Baltimore Ravens and another opportunity to keep their season alive for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Ravens decisively captured the divisional title with a wire-to-wire 35-10 victory against the undermanned Cleveland Browns, who started Bailey Zappe at quarterback, who they acquired from the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad, swapped in Dorian Thompson-Robinson after a pick 6, then brought Zappe back in.
With the Browns offense sputtering to say the least, which ultimately cost offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey his job, the Ravens were up comfortably for the entire second half.
The biggest highlight of the afternoon was an interception by a mammoth of a man, 355-pound defensive tackle Michael Pierce.
Baltimore is set as the No. 3 seed in the AFC side of the playoffs, behind the No. 1 Chiefs and No. 2 Buffalo Bills.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson finished his season with 4,172 passing yards and 41 passing touchdowns with some of the best pass efficiency numbers in NFL history, as well as 915 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. It was the most productive and efficient season of his seven-year career. Was it good enough for his third MVP award against a comparable campaign by Bills quarterback Josh Allen? We will just have to wait and see. Stay tuned.
Jackson also finished the season becoming the first to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for at least 800. His passer rating of 119.6 was not quite enough to break the single-season record of 122.5 held by Aaron Rodgers when he was with the Green Bay Packers.
Embed from Getty ImagesOn the Bengals’ side of the equation, they were facing a down and out Pittsburgh Steelers team that still had playoff seeding to play for, as a win would mean facing CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans rather than the Ravens, who beat them convincingly 34-17 at home just two weeks ago. Now, the Steelers have to hop for a Chargers loss to finish as the No. 5 seed in the AFC.
While Joe Burrow threw a pick and had his NFL-record streak of consecutive games with at least 250 yards passing and three touchdowns snapped, he did enough to send the Steelers (10-7) free falling into the playoffs with a four-game losing streak.
Burrow completed 37 of 46 passes for 277 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown to Ja’Marr Chase on Cincinnati’s first possession of the night that gave the Bengals a lead they never relinquished. Chase was a monster once again, finishing with 10 catches for 96 yards to put the NFL’s “Triple Crown” for receivers (catches, yards and touchdowns) within reach.
As stated previously, the Steelers will be the fifth seed and travel to AFC South champion Houston if the Los Angeles Chargers lose to the Las Vegas Raiders. If the Chargers win, the ‘Harbaugh Bowl’ will be on and the Steelers will be the sixth seed and visit AFC North rival Baltimore next weekend.
“We’re in a single-elimination tournament now, so we better turn our attention toward playing good football and better than we have particularly in recent weeks,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said.
The Bengals took an early lead and held off a later Steelers comeback attempt to stay alive in the AFC wild-card hunt. They still, however, need some help, namely wins by the Kansas City Chiefs, who are sitting the majority of their starters, over the Denver Broncos and New York Jets over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The game pitted a team on a four-game winning streak against one with a three-game losing streak. Both teams continued those streaks, and that gives them very different perspectives entering the playoffs.
