The Cleveland Browns took down the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9 of the NFL season and have a chance to continue to beat good teams in Week 10 against the New England Patriots. The biggest tests, and most important games, will come against the Baltimore Ravens with their bye week sandwiched in between.
For now, the Browns 5 – 4 record keeps the entire AFC North with a .500 or better record coming out of Week 9. The Pittsburgh Steelers play on Monday Night Football tonight. If they win, all four teams in the division will have winning records. If they lose, the Steelers will fall to the bottom of the division at 4 – 4.
Playing the Chicago Bears puts the Steelers in a position to win tonight.
The rest of the AFC is also quite interesting. A lot of parity in the conference as only five teams have losing records while only six teams in the NFC have records above .500.
The Tennesee Titans lead the conference with a 7 – 2 record after a somewhat surprising victory against the Los Angeles Rams despite losing Derrick Henry. The Ravens are in second at 6 – 2.
Eight (8!) teams in the AFC have five wins with the Steelers capable of making it nine tonight. Three of the eight teams with five wins have already had their bye week, as have the Steelers, while the other five teams with five wins have not.
Those who have had a bye are 5 – 3 and have a better winning percentage than those who have not had their bye and are 5 – 4.
The AFC North and the AFC as a whole have a lot of parity through Week 9. Despite all of their struggles this season, Cleveland is just 1.5 games back of the Ravens for the division and second place in the conference. Those two games coming up in a couple of weeks could be even bigger than thought when the schedule came out.