The Baltimore Ravens were six-point road favorites at the Houston Texans Sunday, needing a win to keep up with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in the AFC North.
It isn't looking like it will work out for the Ravens.
A stunning loss against the Houston Texans and quarterback Case Keenum, who was signed this week to start for the Texans, and the Ravens have been eliminated from the AFC North title race. The Steelers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, setting up a Week 17 division title game with the Bengals, regardless of the results of their Week 16 game against Denver on Monday night.
The Ravens walked out of their loss to Houston battered, no one more than quarterback Joe Flacco, who was assaulted by the Texans, J.J. Watt in particular.
Pittsburgh, winners of three consecutive games, are in the playoffs regardless of the outcome of their game against Cincinnati. They defeated Cincinnati 42-21 in Week 14.
This game will most likely be moved from its initial 1 p.m. start time to a Sunday Night Football game, which would start at 8:30 p.m. The league will make that decision Tuesday, but they have said they want a game in which both teams have win-and-in situations. Since the Steelers are already in the playoffs, the NFL may opt to go with the NFC South championship game between Atlanta and Carolina.
But that would be putting two sub-.500 teams on primetime when a division championship with two teams with records fitting of a playoff team plays in the early game.