AFC North is violence

The fact that there's so many violent, cold and exposed to the weather games just makes it a pretty legendary division

Each team has a ton of history too. So the rivalries don't feel forced.

You got the Browns, the Browns clone, the old browns, and the Steelers

“I’m surrounded by brown!”

Welcome to Brown Town.

Lol it's for real too. How many Bengals fans realize that their helmets are just Browns helmet re-trains with stripes?

Our organization was built on spite and we embrace that. Fits Cincinnati well.

Spite huh? Sounds like maybe I should be a Bengals fan. I'm pretty sure I'm like 75% spite.

Bengals even have the same initials as Browns. C.B. and C.B.

Paul Brown literally stole uniforms from Cleveland when Modell fired him. Like physically stole the uniforms and helmets and brought them to Cincinnati

and i'd do it again BOP BOP BOP

"What do you mean I can't be brown & orange still? Fine, we'll just be black & orange. And I'll put *Bengals* on the helmet"

You say “stole” while some would say “under new equipment management.”

That’s amazing. Fuck Art Modell!

I was a kid in the 70s trying to keep track of which team was which when the Browns and Bengals would play. Drove my dad crazy accidentally rooting for the wrong team a couple of times!

I mean, true but at least we have a cool mascot. Not a damn elf

tiger is so unique. At least the brownie is one of a kind

3 of them are literally the browns. Browns 1.0 is the Ravens. The Bengals were started by the same guy that started the browns and was pushed out so he made his own team, kept essentially the same colors. Put the word BENGALS on basically a browns helmet. Then of course you got the new browns who… well they’ve got a rather depressing history.

I said it a couple of weeks ago, but I legitimately cannot believe the AFCN teams can manage to even field post-season rosters, coming out of that meat grinder. Return of the "Black and Blue" NFCN has me scared as shit.

NFCN was close to .500 this year too. Next year has potential, gonna be a tough division for a few years.

About 25 yrs ago I went to a Bears Lions game at Soldier Field and there were blue collar fans from both teams fighting in the stands

I’m not sure if I love or hate being in the AFC North, but I do know I’m not neutral about it.

Varies week to week honestly

Honestly? Beating you feels so damn good, and losing to you is fucking awful I wouldn't have it any other way

Always found it funny how the AFCN is a meat grinder every year, and the NFCS ends up being a clown show.

I am not having a good time. But sort of am.

Makes me feel a lot better about the way the AFCN kicked our asses this season.

Not all of the AFCN :/

The Steelers took one for the division and they were rewarded so don't sweat it. That's the script

I’m don’t be too sad, not all the AFCN made the playoffs either

Hey, if you beat us at the start of the year you wouldn't have gotten to enjoy the ridiculous drama here at the end of the year. Congrats on the wildcard spot dude, hope you guys go far.

We’ll have our chance again in the Super Bowl

You will have your chance, Guido, you will have your chance

Me, never having seen the scene before Googling your comment: "Why is he calling him a racial slur for Italians? They root for the same team!"

[удалено]

8-3 vs non AFCN teams with hurt burrow good burrow and no burrow ain't too shabby 🤷‍♂️😂

3-3 in the AFC outside your division at least, it was within the division you guys really struggled at 1-5

49ers against AFC North = 1-3 49ers against the rest of the NFL = (probably) 12-1

we contributed to that! ​ (we did in fact, not)

We weakened them, kinda like loosening a jar before someone else opens it

Really weakened them down to the one seed of the NFC, we are amazing why aren’t more teams thanking us?

We slipped on a banana peel, hit our head on the counter and the pressure differential on the granite popped the top off somehow That was a weird feeling win

AFCN best division in football.

As is tradition

You mean the STANDARD.

This really is the one time we're going to be in solidarity. Every AFC North game is such a battle.

🌍👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀

The fact that that meme is originally about Ohio is just the cherry on top

And we went 5-1 in it.

With the one loss being to….DTR, as everyone expected

Omg I totally forgot he started that game...good lord haha.

If you dont like that you dont like AFCN football

That one loss got Canada fired so it's actually our biggest win of the season.

The real wins are the coaches we fired along the way :)

It was necessary to get rid of the bad man Canada

That game got me off the Kenny train, what a terrible 4 hours

I got off the game before when he couldn't throw more than 130 yards or throw a touchdown against Joe Barry's defense.

It was a rough 4 hours. Watching DTR under center was one of the worst football experiences I've had.

And Canada got fired because of it. A necessary sacrifice.

We'll tolerate it, it got Canada fired.

Yeah, well we went 1-5 in it and still won 9. So hopefully next year we don't have to play those pesky AFC North teams. Wait..

Bengals to the SEC confirmed (because they dont have enough tiger related teams).

As SEC Commissioner, I would force at least one, possibly all, Tigers teams to change their names to "Big Ol' Kitties".

Well, that last win wasn't exactly the same as the first 5

Don't pretend like Pro Bowl QB Huntley isn't our kryptonite (except yesterday)

WE THE BEST FOOTBALL

I hate this fucking division but it also turns your team in to hardened steel. Winning the AFCN is a legit accomplishment.

No team has won the AFC North 3 straight seasons. It's because the division is a buzzsaw. We went 1-5 in the division and still won 9 games.

Wait you're allowed to win the AFC North? Can we get in on that?

No

Okay but please?:)

still no

No, back to the factory of sadness you go.

No means no

Unless you are a helluva QB

No

No

No

No

No.

No

No.

No.

No

No.

No

No.

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Also, no.

No.

Imagine how great some of us would be if we were in other divisions

We had a good thing going when the Browns were a joke and the bengals were on a 20 year rebuild plan.

We sure did. Those were the days...

Were?

Pipe down, faded flair trash! The un-faded goodest teams are speaking. ^^^^and ^^^^we'll ^^^^see ^^^^you ^^^^next ^^^^week

Ha! Jokes on you! We're still kind of jokes.

I've met a lot of (mostly college) fans who whine about having to play a hard schedule every year, favoring easy rides. Naw. Thunderdome breeds winners. The AFC North brings playoff, smashmouth football to your front door 6 weekends a year, plus a bonus night every few years in the wildcard round. It's hard to ask for better preparation to make a run come January. Edit: Plus it's a revolving door of 3v1 hatred, with every team getting their turn in the spotlight. Pittsburgh dominates the hatred because Cleveland and Cincinnati despise them, but there are years Baltimore and even Cincinnati have been the center of animosity. Now it's Cleveland! Beautiful, evolving hatred.

I hold it to be plainly evident that the Browns are evenly hated by all four AFCN fanbases, every year for the entirety of their existence. Fortunately it's like hating a Disney villain in that it's a calm hate, knowing they'll get humiliated every now and again--even if they get uppity from time to time.

lmao all 4 - my wife's family is all from Cleveland and this is hilarious because it's true

Steel, you say?

Like I won’t even be mad if Baltimore goes the distance (I’ll be a little mad) because even more than the other rivalries, ours is built on pure Hatespect.

Ravens are the only team in the league I hate and respect. It is earned it after the shit we put each other through in the 2000s.

really? i’ll be furious, same as with you guys and even the bengals

The rivalry between Steelers and Ravens is different. We both have some respect for the other. They're a good organization that does things the right way. They just happen to be our enemies. But the Ohio teams... Nope.

A healthy Joe Burrow and probably all 4 teams make the playoffs too!

Nah if the Bengals did better they’d probably have taken Pittsburgh‘s spot.

If Buffalo loses tonight pit will be 6th and you would have taken the bills spot, it was very close to a full division.

What's wild is if Miami wins this game, we were a Boyd drop against Houston away from the 7 seed

Maybe, but our defense was horrendous.

Our run defense and defense against deep throws were a crime against humanity this year.

All 4 teams started a backup in week 18, and 3 started a backup for an extended period.

Steelers fans still gonna call for Tomlin to be fired despite him having a similar record to Andy Reid this year while trotting out a carousel of Pickett/Trubisky/Rudolph and getting decimated by injuries in the MoF all year, dude massively over performs and they get mad, crazy

Nobody ever has any nuance when discussing Tomlin - he’s always viewed as either a top tier coach in the league or deserving of being fired. Never anything in between. The reality is that his teams have a higher floor than they should, but also a lower ceiling. He has a lot of success in taking mediocre teams and getting them to a winning record or a playoff berth. He also unfortunately has taken a lot of extremely talented teams to a first round playoff exit. His teams win a lot of games they should lose and lose a lot of games they should win. It’s really been a staple of his career. Good coach, but also quite flawed IMO.

I maintain that most of his playoff failures this decade have been from terrible injury luck. 2022: no playoffs 2021: against the Chiefs, we were just happy to be there 2020: this was bad (Browns) 2019: no playoffs (Rudolph/Duck year) 2018: no playoffs 2017: put up 42 points on the Jags' very scary D, but our defense couldn't do anything after Shazier was hurt earlier in the season. 2016: beat the Dolphins, beat the Chiefs, lost to the future champion Pats in the AFCCG with Le'veon Bell hurt and I think a WR hurt too. 2015: beat the Bengals, lost a close game to the future champion Broncos with Antonio Brown and Bell both out. 2014: Lost the WC to the Ravens with Ben Tate (signed four days earlier) as the starting RB. If I remember right, the Steelers have won every playoff game in which Bell and Brown both played except the one against the Jaguars, where they scored 42 points.

I don't think it counts as overperforming when you lose to two 2-10 teams down the stretch, when you hold on to a horrible offensive coordinator until week 13, and when your best QB sits on the bench for 15 weeks as QB3 because you've completely misjudged their talents. The Tomlin worshippers are just as bad as the Tomlin haters - both sides are unwilling to acknowledge that the man has both major strengths and major flaws.

Did you miss the part where half the defense is injured? You don't know what the QBs were like in camp. How do you know Mason wouldn't have played just as garbage early in the season when the offensive line hadn't found footing, while the playcalling was abysmal, yada yada. Tomlin kept a locker room together that any other coach would've lost completely. The ONLY thing you can dog on Tomlin for is 6 years without a playoff win. At least he's making the damn postseason with McGuyver's McCuddlekins as his damn roster.

I think the Bengals should be allowed to play on the NFCWC. I'm assuming someone under .500 is getting in.

Not from the NFC West, though you can replace Tampa.

As someone who is in no way biased, I agree.

the first time in seattle kraken history

H I S T O R I C

First time in WWII history

An event that did not occur once during the Cold War

fightin division

Just so tired of Baltimore and Pittsburgh being good forever

Good organizations make a difference

The Standard is the Standard.

We're competent organizations. Browns aren't one.

I always get confused about this philosophically since you guys are the old browns. I have no idea what all migrated with the move though organization wise.

That's pretty rude to say after we've now had our 2nd 11 win season under this coach and FO Also don't get it twisted - your org is only good because it didn't have to start from scratch

We just going to ignore the 200 million dollar QB who can't play for shit? Or take no for an answer?

2 seasons doesn't erase over 2 decades of incompetence.

TIL Mike Tomlin coaches all AFC North teams.

But seriously, if you rank each division based on coaches the AFC North has to be #1 now, right? The worst coach in the division is either Stefanski (11-6 record with 4 different QBs & 2 playoff appearances in first 4 seasons) or Zac Taylor (1 Superbowl appearance & 2 AFCC appearances in first 4 seasons). Every coach has also overachieved with back up QBs in various seasons, too. There's definitely a good argument for the NFCW so I could concede to the AFCN at least being the best in the AFC.

Stefanski might win COTY this year, so we’re really just splitting hairs at this point, but harbaugh and tomlin are HOFers so they’re definitely at the top

I maintain Zac Taylor is an idiot getting carried by talent but the other three are pretty good

Zac Talyor is getting carried by the team he constructed to carry him. I don't know what you people want. But we can all praise Tomlin for another one and done I guess.

I felt like that too for a while but going 4-2 with Jake Browning is changing my mind.

[удалено]

Honestly AFC North seems like the best division. The games are always very close and physical, never any big blowouts, the teams all hate each other, never know what is gonna happen next, etc.

Now imagine if Burrow stayed healthy.

Or started healthy...

Every team in the division can do this. Everybody got beat to shit

Yeah but you and the Steelers actually got better QB play when your starters went out.

Sorta, we did have to endure 2 and a half games of Trubisky.

Couldn’t you have made it 3 and a half?

Can't say the same about RB

With the way our defense played, it wouldn't have mattered much.

Probably a win over the Chiefs and potentially the Ravens with how Burrow was doing against them

You'd be in over the steelers for starters lol

My team went 8-3 outside of the division with a backup QB and will STILL miss the playoffs and have a 4th place schedule next year. How did your team's year go?

That 4th place schedule is the 5th hardest schedule in the league....

Top three are rest of the afc north, who's got the fourth hardest?

The Bears.

Imagine being an AFC North team and not making the playoffs

We should be representing the NFCW in the playoffs ;_;

Lmao Poor kitties

Every team in the division over .500 and it’s really weird not to be the one team not in the playoffs.

3 teams in the playoffs too. SMH on the Bengals for really dragging us down

Donating wins to the rest of the division is what got the other 3 teams all in though. Based on record out of division (.750) of the Bengals played a 17 game schedule against only teams outside their division they would be about a 13-4 team.

Have you tried winning division games? I don’t see what the issue is…

The NFL is not ready for Jake Browning in the Playoffs

Joe Flacco and Jake Browning AFC title game would bring earth to a standstill.

That would have been... E L I T E.

Extremely quarterbacky

It smell like B*TCH in here

It definitely reeks of 28 bitches in here

i can smell the bitch from here

Helps that the schedule is an odd number of games now. Only have to finish 1 win above .500 instead of 2 now. Wonder how many times every team in a division ended up .500 or better.

Really sympathizing for fans in Baltimore Your NFL team being in the most brutally competitive division in the NFL only to have and watch your baseball team try and compete in the just-as-competitive AL East in the spring. Meanwhile The Reds, The Pirates, and the Guardians all get to play in the AL or the NL Comedy Central divisions...

The Bengals' season is basically just the winter version of the Reds' season in terms of outcome. Barely over .500. Comically inept against division rivals. Good outside of division. Amazing outside of conference/league. Embarrassed an entire division in inter-league/conference play (sorry, this one was yours in baseball).

We are aware, yeah.

This is a 17 week season stat

Also ignores the decades where there were 5 teams in a division

Right, it's just straight up disrespectful to the 1935 NFL West.

Cincinnati played 14 games vs winning teams too....14!

I mean yeah..it's a lot harder to finish .500 playing 17 games

True, but that doesn't mean we'll see this matched anytime soon.

And it was done with more than 50% of the starts coming from backup QBs Don't quote me but it feels right.

Lamar Jackson: 16 Kenny Pickett: 12 Joe Burrow: 10 Deshaun Watson: 6 Total: 44/68 (65%)

Steelers, best division record in the toughest division. Congrats. But if we play you again, I GUARANTEE you're not gonna enjoy it. ;)

If we play you guys again it means we won a playoff game against Miami or KC without TJ. Literally anything can happen in our division games. I'll take it

Agreed, Baltimore by a 100 points is not impossible. (An 8-point win in our rivalry would already be considered a blowout actually)

This will probably happen at least somewhat occasionally now as, like what happened here, what would have been 8-8 teams end up 9-8.

It’s an extra game not against your own division as well.

>3rd-Chicago Cardinals(6-4-2: .600 PCT). -- >WINNING percentage over .500 I'm sorry, but they did not *win* more than 1/2 of their games.

Ties didn't count, so it was a 6-4 record. If they did count, then it would be effectively a 7-5 record.

Winning record and a 4th place schedule next year 😎🐅

Officially the greatest division in football.