The Baltimore Ravens winning the AFC North might have felt like a pipe dream when the team was 1-5 and looked to be bottoming out fast. Fast forward a little less than a month later and the Ravens are now 4-5 and the AFC North crown is right there for the taking.
The Pittsburgh Steelers lead the division right now with a 5-4 record and the Ravens are in second place with their 4-5 mark. Everything is still there right in front of them but there's someone in the division who thinks his team still has a shot.
That would be Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who returned to practice for his team for the first time after suffering a toe injury in Week 2. Burrow was initially given a three month timetable to return, which would put him on track to return to the Bengals starting lineup in mid-December but he's back at practice and is still optimistic about his team's chances to win the AFC North despite a 3-6 record.
"Our division is wide-open…Pittsburgh's 5-4 at this point. We play them this week. Everything is still there in in front of us. Very rare that our division looks like this, but it does this year, and so I think we'll be at least in it until the end. […] I think it would be very difficult for us to be Wild Card team at this point. Obviously, a lot of football to be played, but no, I think that's difficult. I think our best path would be win the division."
Joe Burrow seems to think Bengals will still be a threat to Ravens in AFC North
While the Bengals are theoretically in the division title race, they've squandered a massive opportunity in their past two games. They lost to a then-winless Jets squad and then blew a late-game lead to the Bears. Those were two games that the Bengals could have -- and should have -- won but their defense couldn't hold on.
Had Cincinnati's defense held on, the Bengals are 5-4 right now and with the win they have over the Steelers, they'd be in first place in the division. That'd then allow Burrow to step back in when he's ready and do what he's done best since entering the league, which is put up numbers and help that team win games. It'd give them a more realistic shot of winning the AFC North too, which, as Burrow noted, is probably the only way the Bengals are getting into the playoffs.
If the Bengals keep losing, however, then it won't make much sense for Burrow to reenter the lineup because, at that point, Cincinnati would want to preserve him for next year. They'd have to accept that this year was a lost year for them and let Burrow recharge for the 2026 season.
Meanwhile, the Ravens are 4-5 and have a very manageable schedule down the stretch, including two games against this vulnerable Bengals defense. This is why Baltimore continues to be the odds-on favorite to win the AFC North for the third straight year and why everything is still in front of them despite that ugly 1-5 start.
Burrow can say whatever he wants but the Ravens can ensure that his team is out of the division title race before he even has a chance to get back on the field.