Before the season there was talk about whether the AFC North would be the best division in football, and it sure seems to be shaping up that way with the Cincinnati Bengals at 5-4, but still in last place despite the winning record.
In first place are the Baltimore Ravens at 7-3 after falling to the Cleveland Browns 33-31 on a last-second field goal in Week 10. The Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers follow at 6-3 each, despite the Steelers getting outgained on offense in each of their nine games this season.
It’s a very tight race with a lot of football to go, and while last place isn’t a great spot to be, the Bengals are still only two games out of first place with four division games left to go, so to some extent they control their own destiny.
That starts this week when they head to Baltimore for a short turnaround to play Thursday night. The Ravens won the first time around 27-24 at Paycor Stadium, but Burrow has been playing at a very high level the past five weeks and poses a major threat to any defense in the NFL right now.
After that, the Bengals host Pittsburgh for their first matchup of the season.
There is also no guarantee that any of the other teams will be able to take a commanding lead in the division with all of the North opponents beating up on each other.
Right now, the Bengals are 0-2 in the division, so if they want to be in a good position should there be tiebreakers later down the road, they are going to have to kick it into gear against the division.
