{"id":54797,"date":"2025-12-07T23:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T23:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/54797\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T23:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T23:54:08","slug":"afc-playoff-picture-pittsburgh-steelers-hurdle-into-afc-north-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/54797\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC Playoff Picture: Pittsburgh Steelers hurdle into AFC North lead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">After their Week 14 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers are back in first place in the AFC North. It\u2019s been a chaotic few weeks, for the playoff picture, with three losses in the last four games, but the Ravens\u2019 5-1 pace has been halted for now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Pittsburgh and Baltimore play again in Week 18 in what could end up being an elimination game. Like the Steelers a week ago, the Ravens\u2019 loss drops them compeltely out of the playoff picture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">At fourth, the Steelers\u2019 wild card opponent would be the Buffalo Bills if things stayed the same as they are now. Buffalo beat the Bengals (thanks, Bills!) and the Indianapolis Colts lost to shift around the wild card teams. If the Chargers win in the late afternoon game, they move up to fifth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The colts lost more than the game as it was announced that QB Daniel Jones ruptured his Achilles. He will be done for the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Jacksonville Jaguars won to stay in third place in the AFC. The New England Patriots are on a bye. The Denver Broncos play in the late afternoon window.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There is a huge game in the wild card picture on Sunday night \u2014 especially with the Jones news \u2014 as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans. The Chargers play Monday night.<\/p>\n<p>AFC standings during Week 14<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The New England Patriots are on a bye in Week 14<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">1. New England Patriots (11-2)<br \/>2. Denver Broncos (10-2)<br \/>3. Jacksonville Jaguars (9-4)<br \/>4. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6)<br \/>5. Buffalo Bills (9-4)<br \/>6. Los Angeles Chargers (8-4)<br \/>7. Indianapolis Colts (8-5)<br \/>8. Houston Texans (7-5)<br \/>9. Kansas City Chiefs (6-6, 3-4 AFC)<br \/>10. Baltimore Ravens (6-7, win over MIA)<br \/>11. Miami Dolphins (6-7, loss to BAL)<br \/>12. Cincinnati Bengals (4-9)<br \/>13. e-New York Jets (3-10)<br \/>14. e-Cleveland Browns (3-10)<br \/>15. e-Las Vegas Raiders (2-10)<br \/>16. e-Tennessee Titans (1-11)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Tennessee Titans were eliminated from playoff contention as were the Las Vegas Raiders. The New York Jets joined them in Week 14.<\/p>\n<p>AFC North standings after Week 14<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Steelers are back on top with their Week 14 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals both lost, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Cincy\u2019s playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. They need a crazy run to win the division.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">I think the Browns were officially eliminated with their tenth loss and four division losses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">1. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6)<br \/>2. Baltimore Ravens (6-7)<br \/>3. Cincinnati Bengals (4-9)<br \/>4. Cleveland Browns (6-10)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After their Week 14 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers are back in first place in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74,4853,30467],"class_list":["post-54797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}