On Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals, led by their backup quarterback, Jake Browning went against their AFC North division rivals Cleveland Browns in their week 18 matchup. Since the Browns had already clinched a playoff spot, they rested many of their starters and went with several backups.
As a result, the Bengals were able to outplay the Cleveland-based football team in all departments of the game. In the end, Browning and the Bengals secured a dominant 31-14 victory and improved to a record of 9 wins and 8 losses.
The Bengals failed to qualify for the postseason, but with their victory on Sunday, they helped their division to make history. The AFC North became the first division in the merger era to have every team finish with a winning record in a single season.
Apart from the Bengals, the other 3 teams, the Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Baltimore Ravens qualified for the postseason. What’s more fascinating is that apart from the Ravens, the other 3 teams were missing their starting quarterbacks for several games due to injuries.
The Browns lost their starting QB Deshaun Watson, and the Bengals lost Joe Burrow very early in the season. The Steelers lost Kenny Pickett during the final stages of the regular and still managed to qualify for playoffs with a winning record.
The last time, all teams in a division finished with a winning record was way back in 1935, when the NFL West teams, the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals), and the Green Bay Packers all finished with winning records. That year, the NFL West team produced the champions as the Lions defeated the New York Giants in the title game.
AFC North sending three teams to postseason
Before the 2023 season started, many experts predicted the AFC North would be one of the toughest divisions in the league, since all their teams had good rosters.
Although the Ravens won the division with ease and even secured the AFC’s No.1 seed, the rest of the AFC North did not go down without a fight.
The AFC North was historically tough this year. All 4 teams finished over .500.
From @EliasSports: It's just the 2nd time since the NFL began using divisions in 1933 that every team in a division finished over .500, joining the 1935 NFL West.
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) January 7, 2024As previously mentioned, every team in the division has a winning record despite multiple teams losing their starting QBs with injuries.
The last time, every team had a winning record in a division, and one of them went on to win the championship. This year, the Ravens, the Browns, and the Steelers would hope for a similar result.
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