Baltimore Ravens: What Happened To The AFC North?

The Baltimore Ravens were once part of arguably the strongest division in the NFL, now that division looks like it’s starting to collapse. What happened?

Over the past eight seasons, the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cincinnati Bengals have combined for two Super Bowl wins, five AFC Championship Games and a total of 17 playoff appearances. In fact, in 2014, the AFC North became the first division in the NFL since 1935 to have all four teams at least two games above .500 at any point in the season.

Now, a quick glance at the AFC North paints a very different picture. Only the Pittsburgh Steelers have a winning record, the Baltimore Ravens are in the middle of a four-game losing streak, the Cincinnati Bengals are off to their worst start in four years, and the Cleveland Browns don’t even have a win yet.

So what’s happened to this once-strong bastion of success in the NFL? There’s a number of things that have happened, some of them bad luck, some of them not, that’s lead to the once-strongest division in the NFL to fall into the throes of mediocrity.

For me, the most obvious problem in the AFC North has been the play at the quarterback position. I mean, at this point, I’m pretty sure the Cleveland Browns are only a few concussions and cracked ribs away from hiring Jimmy McGinty as their head coach and signing Shane Falco to a starting quarterback gig.

In all honesty though, the Browns have gone through about six different quarterbacks this year. At the beginning of the year, there was a lot of hope in Cleveland. They had signed Robert Griffin III in the hopes that he’d stay healthy and rekindle some of that Rookie of the Year magic.

They had uber-athelete Terrelle Pryor at wide receiver, along with first-round pick Corey Coleman who impressed everyone during his time at Baylor. And on top of all that, they hired Hue Jackson as their new head coach, a veteran coach with a decent record of success in the NFL. But running through a new quarterback every week will take all that potential and flush it right down the toilet.

Baltimore Ravens fans are well aware of how much Joe Flacco has been struggling at the quarterback position; the past four weeks Flacco has bombed pretty hard in the final two minutes of the game, a time when Joe Cool is supposed to be at his best. Granted, his wide receivers haven’t all exactly helped, but a decent portion of the blame has to fall on Flacco.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost Ben Roethlisberger to injury, which isn’t necessarily his fault, but Landry Jones obviously isn’t Big Ben, and the Steelers are 0-2 so far in games without him.

Losing Roethlisberger brings the whole team down, Antonio Brown, arguably the best player in the NFL, has never caught a touchdown from anyone but Ben Roethlisberger. Fortunately for the Steelers, Roethlisberger isn’t out the whole year, and honestly they’re the only team I could see turning things around in a meaningful way in the AFC North.

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The only healthy quarterback who’s playing decently in the AFC North is probably Andy Dalton, but even with his decent play, The Red Rifle is still only heading an offense that averages about 20 points per game, they’re not exactly world beaters.

The other noticeable issue in the conference has been injuries. I’ve already mentioned Roethlisberger and how much that’s hurt the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the assembly line of quarterback the Cleveland Browns have gone through. And the Baltimore Ravens have certainly been missing some key players, including Pro-Bowler Marshal Yanda and first-round pick Ronnie Stanley on the offensive line.

Honestly, as much as I hate to say it as a Ravens fan, I see the Steelers winning this division pretty easily. As it stands right now, the Steelers have a 65.8% chance to win the AFC North, per ESPN Analytics, and I’d say that’s about right. Things are going to be difficult for them without Big Ben, but they’ll be back to their old selves once he’s back.

So where do the Baltimore Ravens stand in all of this? Well unfortunately, I just don’t see them making the playoffs. They’ll probably be in the wild card chase, but likely only on the fringes of it. Between injuries, poor quarterback play, and poor play-calling, things aren’t looking too good. I could see the Bengals making a late-season push for a wild card spot, and I think that that’s going to push the Ravens right out of the playoffs.

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But hopefully I’m wrong and a little bit of the Baltimore magic we’ve seen over the years (in both football and baseball) that defies all understanding will propel the Ravens to a playoff berth. I just don’t see it as very likely.

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