Week 7 is officially in the books for the four teams who call the AFC North home, and when the dust settled from a full slate of games, the Pittsburgh Steelers developed a commanding lead over the field after seven weeks of action.
Before digging into the nuts and bolts of the division, let’s update the standings:
1. Pittsburgh Steelers - 5-2
2. Baltimore Ravens - 3-4
3. Cincinnati Bengals - 2-4
4. Cleveland Browns - 0-7
After the Steelers 29-14 win over Cincinnati in Week 7 at Heinz Field, they have started their division play 3-0 for the first time since 2008. On top of that, two of those three wins were on the road. This means the Browns and Ravens will still have to come to Heinz Field, while the Steelers only remaining road divisional game will be a trip to Cincinnati in December.
The fact the Steelers have beaten all of their division rivals the first time through the schedule means the team now technically has a 2.5-game lead on the Ravens and Bengals, the half game being the head-to-head wins over the rest of the division. In other words, the Steelers are in an awesome spot within the division with 9 games remaining.
A lot can change between now and the next time the Steelers face a division foe, which will be December 4th when the Steelers travel to play the Bengals, but there is little to complain about to date. With the Ravens losing to the Vikings in Week 7, the Browns yet to even win a football game and the Bengals future anything but certain, the Steelers could have a Patriots-esque road to the playoffs, when it comes to the division standings.
However, no one is counting their chickens before they hatch. A lot of football left to be played.
Check out who each team plays in Week 8:
PIT @ DET
IND @ CIN
MIN @ CLE
MIA @ BAL (TNF)