AFC North Standings: Where teams stand after Week 7 games

Another week of NFL action is in the books and a new set of standings shakes out in the AFC North. Last week saw the surging Cleveland Browns bidding to threaten for the lead in the division, and the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers were simply trying to maintain a modicum of relevance in their peer group.

What a difference a week makes. As the Steelers defeated the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football 30-23 to wrap up Week 7 action on the NFL schedule, the AFC North standings are anything but clear.

The most lucid indication from any team in the division is the Baltimore Ravens who have played the most consistent brand of football among the four teams residing in the AFC North. Other than the Ravens, who at 5-2 are leading the division, the rest of the division has some shaking out to do.

The Cincinnati Bengals cling to second place, thanks to a Week 6 tie with the Carolina Panthers that moved their record to 3-2-1, but the Steelers (4-3) are right on their heels after moving over the .500 mark Monday night. The Browns find themselves in familiar territory, as they return to the last-place spot in the division at 3-3 after losing to the winless Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday.

Which direction these four teams go at this point is anyone's guess. The Ravens have three games on their schedule before their bye week, and those game are at Cincinnati, at Pittsburgh and a home game against the Tennessee Titans.

The Bengals have three straight home games against the Ravens, Jaguars and Browns coming up, and for a team desperate for some sort of consistency, this might be the stretch for them to achieve just that.

The Browns easily could climb back into this race during the next three weeks, as they host the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before traveling to Cincinnati for a meeting with the Bengals.

The Steelers' next three games very well could be a turning point in this 2014 season, whether that's a good turning point or not is still to be determined. Pittsburgh hosts the Indanapolis Colts and Ravens before hitting the road to face the New York Jets in the next three weeks.

If fans have learned anything about the current NFL, and especially about this division, it's that that standings can change at the drop of a hat. There's a lot of football left to be played, but if a team experiences a few bad weeks, teams that previously were thinking of a division title could very well be resigned to a wild-card playoff birth instead.