AFC North title on near horizon
A few years ago, the NFL decided to schedule division games in the final month of the season in hopes of creating head-to-head matchups that might decide division titles and playoff seeding.
But half the division races this season are all but over, including the AFC North. The Steelers are 9-2 and held a 3-game lead over Baltimore after the host Ravens beat the Houston Texans, 2316, Monday night.
The Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings also are running away with their divisions.
The Eagles have a fivegame lead in the NFC East. The Patriots and Vikings have three-game leads in the AFC East and NFC North.
The Steelers are vying for their 23rd division title since 1970. Seven of the eight times the Steelers have advanced to the Super Bowl, they won their division. The only time they did not win their division and reached the Super Bowl was in 2005, when they entered the playoffs as the No. 6 seed and beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.
In all other Super Bowl seasons in 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1995, 2008 and 2010 they were the division champion.
The Steelers have a chance to sweep the division for the first time since 2008.
The remaining games against the Ravens and the Cleveland Browns are at home;, while the game Monday night against Cincinnati is the only remaining division road game.
Winning the division hasn’t been a sure ticket to the Super Bowl for the Steelers, but it has gone a long way toward playoff success most years.
Of the 22 times the Steelers have won their division, they advanced to the AFC title game 16 times.
Only six times did they fail to win a playoff game. The previous time that happened was 2014, when the Steelers won the AFC North and lost to the sixth-seeded Ravens at home in an AFC wild-card game.
It also happened in 2007, Mike Tomlin’s first season as head coach, when the Steelers lost a wild-card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A real reason for concern
The Steelers have been giving up big plays at an alarming rate, including three more passing plays of 39 yards or longer Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers.
The fact that Brett Hundley was able to expose the secondary after Jacoby Brissett did two weeks earlier is concerning, but it will be panic time if the next two opponents gouge the Steelers for big plays.
The Bengals and Ravens have the two worst offenses in the NFL.
The Bengals are last in the NFL in total offense, averaging a meager 274 yards per game. They’re 25th in scoring at 18.1 points per game. The Ravens are second-to-last in total offense (279 yards per game) and 18th in scoring (21.3 points per game).
Most important for the Steelers, the Bengals and Ravens have struggled in the passing game. The Bengals are 28th in the league in passing, averaging 198 passing yards per game; the Ravens are last with 165 passing yards per game.
This ‘n’ that
Some leftover nuggets from the Sunday night game: Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers on a gamewinning drive for the 41st time in his career (regular season and postseason). … Roethlisberger threw for 351 yards for his 30th game with 350 passing yards or more. Only Drew Brees (57), Tom Brady (42) and Peyton Manning (35) have more. … Chris Boswell’s 53-yard field goal as time expired tied for the longest kick in Heinz Field history and the fourth longest in franchise history. … The Steelers have a six-game winning streak for the second year in a row, but they’re not one of the hottest teams in the league. Three other teams currently have longer winning streaks: The Philadelphia Eagles (9), New England Patriots (7) and Minnesota Vikings (7).