Winning the Super Bowl will always be at the top of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ goals list. To that end, their vision is to win the AFC North. And to win in this tough division, it’s better to defeat your opponents within the division. The Steelers came out on the other side of the four-game gauntlet playing only AFC North games, going 3-1. A classic slugfest with the Baltimore Ravens. Victory in penalty shootout against the Cincinnati Bengals. Get revenge on the Cleveland Browns, the only team to stumble since Week 5.
Not just surviving, but thriving through this period will set up another remarkable winning streak for the Steelers. For the 15th consecutive season, Pittsburgh has had an undefeated season with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses or more against opponents in the same division. This remains the longest streak in the league by a considerable margin. The next closest team is the Kansas City Chiefs, who have done so every year since 2013. They are already 5-0 with a winning streak that extends to 2024.
This is a topic we focused on over the summer. The Chiefs and Steelers are the only teams with streaks that span 10 years. The Cleveland Browns have done so every year since 2017, but their winning streak is in jeopardy as they sit at 2-2 through four divisional games. The Las Vegas Raiders’ streak has already ended this year for five years. Most teams, even the best, have been unable to sustain their success over long periods of time.
That makes sense. Division competition is tough. Everyone knows each other, and while losing teams have an opportunity to counterpunch, winning teams walk the line between maintaining what they’ve done and actively adjusting. Must be. Divisional opponents tend to simply beat each other, and that is often the case in the physical AFC North.
But Pittsburgh has more wins than the other three teams. As a little bit of recent history, here are the divisional records for the four AFC North teams from 2018-2024.
Pittsburgh Steelers: .663 (26-13-1)
Cleveland Browns: .526 (20-18-1)
Baltimore Ravens: .525 (21-19)
Cincinnati Bengals: .300 (12-28)
The Browns and Ravens are in the middle of the projected range, hovering around .500. The Bengals are in the basement. And the Steelers are ranked above the other three teams. It’s not like Pittsburgh had the best team throughout that span. The Steelers have only won the division once during that span. But when it comes to intradivision matchups, Pittsburgh remains the king. In 2024, the Steelers have the only record of winning a division.
This list will be updated once everything settles down in 2024 to see whose records continue and who finished. The Steelers’ winning streak continues, which is why they are always a competitive team. They know better than anyone else how to win within their division.
