NFL Week 18 AFC North Saturday Recap: Still Standing

I love the final week of the season; always have. The wildest and craziest crap always happens on the final week of the NFL season, and I'm speaking from experience; I've seen a lot of it go down in that last week. This is the 15th year of the all-division games final week schedule, and regarding this format, the 18-week format, this year is Year Four. Since 2021, the 18th and final week of the regular season features three national TV spots: two games on Saturday, and of course, the Sunday Night Football contest that ends the regular season. The three slots always go to the most vital games in the playoff picture, with the biggest one saved for Sunday night.

This year, the Saturday doubleheader that kicked off Week 18 was all about the AFC North. If you think about it, all four teams had something to play for. The Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers were playing to win the division, the Cincinnati Bengals were looking to get the AFC's last remaining playoff spot, and the Cleveland Browns actually had a good chance at the #1 pick in the 2025 Draft.

So here's what went down on the penultimate day of the 2024 season:

Browns @ Ravens

Yeah, this game was over once the opening kickoff took place. Yes, the Browns beat the Ravens earlier in the season, but that game was in Cleveland, and the Browns were, at best, semi-well-adjusted on that week. By this time, the team was dead, and the Ravens went out there like the birds of prey they are. Lamar Jackson crushed them. Derrick Henry (on his 31st birthday) crushed them. It was a slaughter.

The Ravens won, 35-10, and with that win, they are again champions of the AFC North. Baltimore entered the season as heavy favorites to win the division, but nobody counted on the Steelers to look as strong as they did. However, once the Ravens beat the Steelers a few weeks prior, they took it and never looked back. The Ravens are now locked in as the #3 team in the AFC, with all four division champions now locked into their positions. As for the Browns, they finished 3-14, with Myles Garrett publicly saying that this was actually worse than their winless season. The Browns were one of four teams who entered this week still alive for the #1 pick. Now it's down to three; the loss eliminated the New York Giants from the picture. If the Patriots and Titans both win this week, Cleveland gets the top pick.

Bengals @ Steelers

The Steelers had the AFC North on lockdown for nearly all season. All they had to do two weeks ago was beat Baltimore, and the North would be all theirs. But on that day, Russell Wilson totally fell off, and the Ravens pounced. That loss came after they were dominated by the Eagles, and on Christmas Day, they were dominated by the Chiefs, which put them behind in the division. They entered their regular season finale knowing that they would be a Wild Card, but at least they had the chance to eliminate a division rival.

Sadly, this would not happen. The Steelers were absolutely off. Nothing much was going right. The Bengals high-powered offense wasn't doing too much, but somehow, it was enough to win. 19-17 was the final score. That is very damning. The Bengals have the most suspect defense in the league right now, which has this Packers fan having flashbacks to when Aaron Rodgers had to put up 30 points a game because our defense would give up that much. Though I think even those defenses were better than Cincy's this year, yet Pittsburgh couldn't score 20 on them? The main problem was George Pickens. He pouts about wanting the ball, yet he had four drops in this game. Yikes.

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So with the win, the Bengals still have life. They and their fans will now tune in to a pair of games kicking off at 4:25PM Eastern on Sunday afternoon: Chiefs @ Broncos and Dolphins @ Jets. The remaining scenarios are as follows: The Broncos are in with a win or tie, but a loss now eliminates them. The Dolphins are in wih a win and a Broncos loss, and as for the Bengals, they now need the Broncos to lose and the Dolphins to lose or tie. Had the Steelers won, they would be off to Houston, while we would receive another Harbaugh vs Harbaugh battle. Now, the Chargers can head to Houston if they beat Vegas, and that would set up a third meeting between the Steelers and Ravens this season. Of course, whoever gets the last spot will be the #7 seed and head to Buffalo.

We are now down to the final day of the regular season; fourteen regular season games remain. I sense a very amazing finale on the horizon!