It’s far from lifting the Lombardi Trophy, but that doesn’t mean a less-significant symbolic championship gesture isn’t without its own gratification.
“We want to be able to put on a hat and shirts,” Pittsburgh Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said, “to say we won the AFC North.”
Whether that was to happen late Sunday night, about 24 hours later or at some other point over the ensuing two weeks, it’s all but a foregone conclusion the Steelers’ marketing staff will be peddling caps and T-shirts recognizing the achievement of a division title for the 2020 season.
If they hadn’t clinched the AFC North already by way of a Cleveland Browns loss Sunday night, the Steelers (11-2) at worst could take care of business themselves with a victory in their 8:15 p.m. Monday game at the Cincinnati Bengals (2-10-1).
For a franchise with six Super Bowl titles that prides itself on The Standard, winning the AFC North barely registers among the fanbase. But the 19-year history of the division in its current form has proven that a division title is worth celebrating.
The Steelers’ Dec. 2 win against Baltimore guaranteed the Ravens would fail in their quest to win the division for a third consecutive season. That continues an under-the-radar, borderline-remarkable streak that no team has completed an AFC North “three-peat.”
Since 2002 realignment created the current eight-division format in 2002, all of the other seven divisions have had at least one run of one team winning it three years in a row. The Kansas City Chiefs, for example, have won the past five AFC West titles. The New England Patriots’ run of 11 straight AFC East crowns just ended this month.
Heading into 2020, the Steelers had claimed a division championship just three times over the prior nine seasons.
In other words, winning the AFC North isn’t as easy as it might appear.
“It’s a blessing,” said safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who began his career with an organization (the Miami Dolphins) that has won a division title just twice in his lifetime. “And it’s a great opportunity to win it. I’m excited about it. It’s a little check on the goals list for this season.”
Since the AFC North was re-configured in 2002, Division Titles:
Steelers, 8
Ravens, 6
Bengals, 4
Browns, 0— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) December 13, 2019
Far more significant boxes remain to be checked after (or if) the Steelers’ claim the division. Assured a playoff berth before taking the field against the Buffalo Bills last week, the Steelers’ first postseason goal is to win the first playoff game by an AFC North team since the Steelers won in Kansas City during an ice storm-affected January weekend after the 2016 regular season.
The Steelers lost the AFC championship game in New England the next week and dropped their playoff opener the next season. The Ravens were eliminated in their first playoff games after both the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
The AFC North hasn’t had a wild-card qualifier since 2015, but that will change this season. Baltimore and Cleveland sat in playoff positioning heading into the weekend, and both have much better than average odds of qualifying (according to both fivethirtyeight.com and the New York Times).
The most tangible benefit of avoiding the wild card and taking a division title is the right to host at least one home game. But even if, come January, a division title means little than that otherwise, that doesn’t mean it’s not at all worth celebrating.
“If we win this football game,” Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler said, “we win the division and all that stuff and will put us where we want to be. It won’t put us where we want to be in terms of rankings and stuff like that in terms of playoffs, but this is a big game for us when we close out the division. And we need to do it.”
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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