How Week Eight shook up the AFC North
By Andy Davies
The NFL is often seen as a sport of narrow margins.
In a sport where there are less games in a season than the majority of others, the NFL truly defines the meaning of “every game matters”.
In football (soccer), a team could lose twice in a row and still go on to comfortably win a league title.
A team could lose three games in a row in the other three major US Sports and this would have very little impact on the overall campaign.
However, if you lose three games in a row in an NFL season, then this can have massive consequences to your season.
It can sometimes be the difference between making the playoffs or not, or whether you are the first or fourth seed in your conference.
After the results of Week Eight of the 2025 season, and the Week Nine Thursday Night Football, there has been a massive shake up in the AFC North.
Week Eight may just have proved to be one of the most critical weeks of the 2025 season in the AFC North division standings.
Missed Opportunity For The Bengals
When the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 33-31 on Week Seven’s edition of Thursday Night Football, this was seen as a potentially massive win for the overall AFC North division standings.
The Steelers went into that game with a 4-1 record, whereas the Bengals went into it with a 2-4 record.
A last gasp Evan McPherson field goal won the game for the Bengals, reducing the gap between the top two teams in the division to just one win. Considering the gap could have been three, this was a crucial victory for a team that lost star quarterback Joe Burrow to injury.
With their QB1 one out until at least December, it was widely felt that if they can stay afloat in the division until Burrow’s return, they could replicate their 2024 form down the stretch and make a return to the postseason for the first time since reaching the AFC Championship game in the 2022 season.
They would have fancied their chances against the 0-7 New York Jets last Sunday. With the Steelers playing the 4-1-1 Green Bay Packers later on that day, there was a sense of optimism from the Bengals fanbase given that they had a few extra days rest compared to their opponents.
Ahead 31-16 at the start of the fourth quarter, the game was going exactly to plan for the Bengals.
What unfolded was a monumental collapse.
In the fourth quarter, the Bengals scored seven points. The Jets scored 23.
An outstanding Mason Taylor catch after a pass from running back Breece Hall ended up being the game sealing play as Aaron Glenn earned his first win as Jets head coach and just the team’s third win since Week Nine of the 2024 season.
With the Steelers losing to the Packers on Sunday Night Football later on that evening, the Bengals still remain just one win behind in second place. However, there will be a sense of “What if” after the Jets loss.
The Baltimore Ravens hot on the heels in the AFC North
Every year, there is a team that gets hot late in the season that nobody wants to face.
In the 2025 season, the Baltimore Ravens might just be this team.
After a 1-5 start to the season, this was not a sentence that anyone would have said. The team looked down and out and with quarterback Lamar Jackson injured, there was a feeling that this team might be having to write off the season and look ahead to 2026.
John Harbaugh was booed off by the Ravens fans after a 44-10 loss to the Houston Texans in early October. There was even talk of players such as running back Derrick Henry being traded.
After a Week Seven bye week, the Ravens earned a 30-16 win against the Chicago Bears last Sunday, moving them to a 2-5 record. With the aforementioned losses for the Bengals and Steelers on the same day, and a Cleveland Browns loss to the New England Patriots, there are now just two wins between first and fourth in the AFC North.
The Ravens turned their record to 3-5 on Thursday night, beating the Miami Dolphins 28-6. With just four first downs in the opening two quarters, they turned it on in the second half and showed the rest of the league exactly what they could do, especially on offense.
At times during the second half, it looked as though we were watching the 2023 or 2024 Ravens, the former who reached the AFC Championship game as the number one seed.
With the Steelers taking on the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts later on today, the Browns on a bye week and the Bengals taking on the 4-3 Bears, there is a good chance that none of the Ravens’ division rivals win a game on Sunday.
Should the Steelers and Bengals both lose, then this would keep the gap between the Ravens in second place and Pittsburgh in first as just one win.
The majority of the Ravens’ toughest opponents have already been and gone, with the exception of the Patriots and Green Bay Packers. They still have to play the Minnesota Vikings, who have struggled at the quarterback position and the Jets, who have only won one game so far.
Two games against the Steelers are still to come. In a division rivalry, form goes out of the window. These may end up proving critical for the final division standings.
For the Steelers, they still have to face the Colts, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills Ravens and Detroit Lions. They have a significantly tougher schedule than the Ravens or the Bengals.
Whilst the Bengals get to face the Browns, Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals, they also have to face the Bills. Ranking 31st against both the pass and run, and no teams in the NFL allowing more total yards or total points, this is not a defense that will win any team a championship. This unit has been historically bad. Even with Burrow back healthy, their defense is not strong enough to see them overcome a 3-5 start and make the postseason.
Only four teams in NFL history have started 1-5 and made the playoffs. The Ravens just may become the fifth to do so after a crucial Week Eight in the division.
ANDY DAVIES
NFL ANALYST
ANDY IS A SPORTS JOURNALISM GRADUATE WITH OVER FIVE YEARS EXPERIENCE OF NFL WRITING AND PODCASTING. ANDY HAS BEEN TO EVERY NFL STADIUM AND IS THE HOST OF THE ACROSS THE POD PODCAST. HE HAS PRESS PASS EXPERIENCE AT THE LONDON GAMES AND MANY OTHER NFL BASED EVENTS SUCH AS THE SUPER BOWL, HAVING INTERVIEWED THE LIKES OF AARON RODGERS, justin jefferson, JASON BELL, OSI UMENYIORA, PATRICK MAHOMES, TRAVIS KELCE, DERRICK HENRY, SAQUON BARKLEY AND JALEN HURTS.